The newly-released mid-tier Pixel 5A with 5G has posted a video to highlight one feature and it’s not what we would have expected. The video posted on their YouTube channel is called “The Circle Comes Full Circle” and is highlighting one aspect of the smartphone that has been missing from most devices now (including Google’s upcoming flagships): the headphone jack. And for anyone who’s familiar with Apple’s videos, then you know that this Google video seems to be mocking Apple’s former Chief Design Officer Jony Ive.
The two-minute video celebrates the circle or the headphone jack in a video reminiscent of Ive which may seem like a strange feature to highlight for a device that has things like IP67 dust and water resistance, a huge screen, and the biggest Pixel battery. If you really think about it (and watch all 120 seconds of it), it seems like a joke-y video as it uses such footage like a space station docking and even uses very technical headphone jack jargon like “1/8th-inch three-pole TRS and four-pole TRRS connections.”
The funny thing about this though is that even as they make fun of brands like Apple who have done away with the headphone jack, Google is actually doing the same with some of their own products. The upcoming new flagship devices, the Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro will still be without “the circle” even as the Pixel 5A with 5G is telling everyone that it has the “glorious achievement that draws from our past as it propels us into the future”, as the Ive-sque narrator states.
In fact, Google is one of the earliest brands that got rid of the headphone jack when they launched the Pixel 2 back in 2017. They did bring back the audio jack with the Pixel 3a but the main flagships have been without the perfect circle since then. So basically, by mocking Apple, Google is also mocking itself with this ad. And they even spent two minutes to do so. In any case, users should not expect future flagships to carry headphone jacks.
Still, the Pixel 5A with 5G carries one, if that’s important to you. It costs $449 and has a lot of other features other than just “the circle”.
