But loss of functionality would suck nonetheless. I like that ports are making a return on Pro devices.
The ports that returned on Pro devices are (comparatively) modern, digital and actively used ports. The headphone jack is ancient, analog and used by increasingly less people - even if only for sheer convenience.
And there's a reason for that. You're listening to the power of an analog signal with a solid direct connection, which means you can get lossless quality. Bluetooth headphones convert the audio to digital which causes compression so some of the quality is lost. Wired will always be superior to wireless because of...you know...physics. It's also why wireless mics are absolutely terrible while wired mics on even cheap bootleg headphones sound better than the mics on AirPods.
This is why the headphone jack should come back to the iPhone and never should've been cut from the iPad. We gave wireless a try, now it's time to go back to practicality.
… or - you know - develop the wireless connection further to eliminate the current shortcomings. The problem is not the wireless connection per se. You can already transmit lossless audio via wireless connections today.
The problem lies in the codec and/or the hardware implementation. Good old Bluetooth was developed primarily for power savings, less for audio quality.
Future wireless connections will be able to transmit lossless audio without problem - I think I even read somewhere that Apple is actively pursuing a better wireless connection to allow for better audio.
No need to stick to an inconvenient and increasingly outdated interface, loaded with its own shortcomings. The business politics driven reasons have already mentioned here as well.
So with this in mind, to say "stop clinging to this analog port" is completely nonsensical when it's still widely used
I do believe that Apple has hard facts available to base their decision on, while your reasoning seems to be rather emotional and subjective.
and superior to wireless, and a lot more nicer than having to use a dongle,
So you are fine with long audio cables pulling on your headphones and getting tangled with clothing and furniture, but at the same time argue against simply prolonging that cable by a few inches using a dongle? Sorry, I don’t really understand.
If you are happy with having to physically plug in your headphones, just keep a dongle attached to the cable and you still have to execute only one plug action.
And if you’re an audiophile owning multiple and actively used, wired headphones, then plugging in a simple and inexpensive dongle is not too much to be asked.
btw. Your lumpsum statement of analog being generally superior to wireless is not fully correct. It depends on the wireless connection, codec and which criteria is measured: Convenience for example is highly favored amongst Apple audience.
As for the wired connection: The 3.5 jack is one of the worst possible audio connections - why don’t you demand proper 4.4 or 6.35 jacks or even XLR?
especially when most of the time the iPad is not as mobile as an iPhone so it warrants having a headphone jack just like the Macbook has. There's ZERO reason the iPad lineup shouldn't have one when it has the engineering to have one especially when the vanilla model had one last year!
The vanilla iPad is one of most affordable ones. People on a tight budget often stick to wired connections simply for cost reasons, so the target audience of the Vanilla iPad is better suited with such a headphone jack (though I’m pretty sure that the DAC and its sound quality are nothing to write home about).
I bet you told people who wanted HDMI and SDXC and magsafe back on the Macbook Pro to just use USB-C too huh?
Different target audience and different situation, with multiple adapters necessary and very active use of the mentioned ports. Analog audio - not so much anymore …
