Sorry, I was barely around for the 80s ;) I am old enough to have had a knock-off portable CD player though... > makes it thinner or anything else? I think it

Sorry, I was barely around for the 80s ;) I am old enough to have had a knock-off portable CD player though... > makes it thinner or anything else? I think it's volume inside the device more than thinness, but I agree I don't think it's a fundamental design constraint. I'm sure they could find the room. I think it's just that (now/soon) Bluetooth headphones are finally good enough. I have the Airpods, and I have almost no issue with batteries (they recharge while they're in the case, it's only a problem if I listen continuously for a whole evening, but even then they fast recharge in minutes), and they have great range. I'd tried Bluetooth headphones in the past and it was the pairing process that really turned me off, that's a non-issue now too. I would go as far as to say that the Airpods are the best/most game-changing product Apple has put out in maybe a decade. They just need to get a little cheaper, and included as standard (at least for the new top-of-line devices). For people in the audio industry it sucks, but there are adapters. I don't resent them taking it out any more than I do an ethernet port in my MacBook (ethernet is much better than WiFi, but WiFi is 'good enough' now, and I have an adapter at my desk for when I need it).