I don't know what audiophile circles you're in but when I started getting into headphones phone DACs were looked at with scrutiny. For most earbuds it's "good enough" whereas for higher end headphones it is both accepted and measurable that you're not experiencing all that your headphones have to offer.
In response there are many that purchase media players with DACs for this specific reason. When 3.5mm jacks started getting removed measurements also turned to the DACs within usb c/lightning to 3.5mm cables.
That said, small but very decent DACs have been around for a while. There's one smaller than your pinky nail inside the lightning-to-3.5mm adapter included with newer iPhones.
There are plenty of good reasons to want a 3.5mm headphone jack on a phone. But audio quality is not one of them.