Yes it is. Port complexity is real, especially with analog ports, and relative to what you can do with physical space in a phone package the space required for any port is significant.

While I decry the drive towards "1mm slimmer!" do consider that the 3mm jack is probably around 10% battery capacity in space usage on most devices. You might not be able to perfectly reclaim the space, but still, I would always prefer to just use a wireless headset with 5%+ more battery.

The space argument would have been a lot more compelling if they hadn't added stereo speakers. I feel like I might have grudgingly accepted it, but with that addition it just feels like they're screwing with me.

FWIW, it looks like they didn't add a speaker, they just made the ear-speaker work with the bottom-of-case speaker in stereo mode.

Oh really? I thought it looked like the sound was coming from the side in their animation. But maybe I saw it wrong or that was misleading.

so you would rather 5%+ more battery but have a separate device to charge at more frequent times?

How about +X% battery for a phone with a flat back?

Plus, some people don't want Bluetooth on. Like me.

So use the adapter?

I suspect the adapter will be annoying and easily losable.

I suspect the adapter will cost ten bucks a throw. Buy a spare. (Or don't. But it's an odd place to get frugal when we're talking about a $700 phone.)

Well, here I was typing up a sarcastic reply about how Apple is congenitally incapable of selling anything with a price tag under $20, but they already have the thing on their store, and it's $9:

http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMX62AM/A/lightning-to-35-...

That certainly does help alleviate the pain.

Ah, the Apple way. That problem we just created for you? Here's a dongle to solve it. That'll be an extra $10 (if you're lucky). You're welcome.

You forgot "Apple doesn't innovate".

But, seriously, it comes with the territory. Some people are okay with it. Some people are not. Both are fine. I don't really understand why it gets so far up people's noses either way.

At the core, it might be the same thing as with the outrage over Twitter changing the star icon ("favorite") to a heart icon ("like"). These changes remind people that they're not really in control of the product they're using, they're bound by the decisions of an enterprise who's only acting in their interest if these happen to align with the enterprise's own interests.