> Portless phone would be very unpopular

Apple dropped the headphone port, despite wireless headphones still not being as good as wired (IMHO). This shows that they are perfectly willing to do that which is unpopular.

> - Portless phone would be very unpopular (no fast charging), USB-C would be very popular. Apple would not choose to be unpopular just to watch the world hate them.

The same Apple which removed headphone jack so they can sell more dongles and wireless headphones?

I can see them making portless phone just out of pure spite (maybe having cheaper version with port and not selling that in EU).

The headphone jack did take up a considerable amount of space and made waterproofing quite a bit harder. It't not like it was not a well-considered tradeoff. Companies don't work based on spite, but based on profit.

The existence of waterproof Samsung phones of the same thickness seems to disprove this line for me; it’s not a coincidence that AirPods were released at the same time. Removing the headphone jack and was at least in part about the upsell to wireless headphones apple also makes.

I concur. If anything, TRRS jacks should be easier to waterproof compared to other holes.

> I can see them making portless phone just out of pure spite (maybe having cheaper version with port and not selling that in EU).

What kind of mindset is this? Sometimes Apple prefers aesthetics over practicality, but they are not a spiteful company (unless you are Nvidia), particularly when it hurts customers.