Though on that front I feel like they did the Appleish thing: had an excuse to remove the jack (waterproofing), moved the industry in the direction they wanted, released a product that everyone loves (AirPods).

That excuse doesn't really hold water though. The S10 still has it, and is arguably every bit as "killer" as the new iPhones.

It's more like cost cutting / engineering laziness dressed up as being progressive.

You can buy a Lightning to 3.5mm adapter off eBay for $2.

And not sure if you've looked around your particular city but most people are using wireless headphones these days.