The Best Phones With an Actual Headphone Jack

Asus continues to be one of the few Android manufacturers offering headphone jacks in its flagship smartphones. The long-running ROG Phone series is now in its ninth iteration and features not just the 3.5-mm jack, but two USB-C ports so you can charge the gaming phone in any orientation. If all you want is a high-performing device with a headphone port, this is one of your only options with the top-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. However, it's hard to stomach the $1,000 price. Asus doesn't measure up to its peers in some areas—the software can feel clunky, the cameras are lackluster, and I ran into a few bugs in my testing. Not to mention, it will only get two Android OS upgrades and five years of security updates. That's not great value.

There are two phones in the ROG Phone 9 series: the ROG Phone 9 and ROG Phone 9 Pro. I only tested the former, but the latter is really what most people may want. If you're going to spend this much on a niche gaming phone, go big or go home, right? The primary difference is that the Pro model has extra Mini-LEDs on the back that light up to show personalized graphics and even enable fun retro games you can play using the air trigger shoulder haptic buttons. The Pro has slightly upgraded cameras, with a 32-megapixel 3X telephoto and a 13-megapixel ultrawide. You can also snag a bundle with Asus's Aeroactive Cooler, which adds extra buttons to map controls in your mobile games, plus a fan to keep the phone cool and enable longer stutter-free gaming sessions.

The ROG Phone 9 doesn't work on Verizon's network in the US. It'll be fine on AT&T and T-Mobile and their respective mobile virtual network operators.

A surprisingly good phone for $250, the TCL 60 XE Nxtpaper 5G's spotlight feature revolves around its matte, paper-like display (7/10, WIRED Recommends). While TCL says it cuts down blue light from entering your eyes (supposedly to reduce eyestrain and improve sleep quality, there's no substantive evidence that these blockers do much. Instead, you should buy this phone if you think you'll enjoy the anti-reflective screen, which feels almost like an e-reader. There's even a switch on the side of the device that lets you enter different modes, like Ink Paper Mode, which turns the screen black and white, makes the color temperature warmer, and offers a Kindle-like reading experience.

Performance is solid for the money, and you get additional perks like a microSD card slot, NFC for contactless payments, and wireless charging. It works on every major US carrier, too.

Spun out from ZTE, Nubia's gaming phones focus on performance and battery life over everything else, and the RedMagic 10 Pro (7/10, WIRED Review) is no different. It has the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset as the ROG Phone 9 above, at an unexpectedly low price. It even has a lovely 6.85-inch AMOLED screen with a 144-Hz refresh rate. The caveats? There are quite a few. It's a bulky device with janky software, and Nubia only promises one Android OS upgrade, with three years of security updates. Unsurprisingly for a gaming phone, the cameras aren't good.

More importantly, while Nubia's hardware may have the bands needed to work on most US carriers (there's a carrier compatibility chart here), your mileage may vary. I've seen folks complaining about compatibility issues on every major US network, though it seems to fare best on T-Mobile. It's worth checking with your carrier to see if the device is supported.

If you want to jack in, but also unplug from the world, consider the Minimal Phone (6/10, WIRED Review). This Android handset has a tiny, 4.3-inch e-paper screen and a physical keyboard. It allows you to access all of your favorite apps, but because the screen constantly ghosts and isn't suited for video playback, you'll find yourself barely using social media (the cameras are also pretty bad). That's kind of the point, even if it means suffering through a subpar experience in some apps more than others—the trade-off is relying on your phone less. You can still access modern-day amenities, like Uber, authenticators, and banking apps.

Minimal promises to support the phone with updates for five years, though it's a new company, so there's always the risk that it could go under and halt support. The phone has most of the perks you'd want, from the ability to make contactless payments via NFC to wireless charging. Just know that it's designed to be used less than a normal smartphone—except if you want to jack in and jam out to Radiohead all day.

Dongle is a horrible word, but using one is far cheaper than buying a new phone outright. While a basic USB-C to 3.5-mm adapter will do the job, I prefer this Belkin adapter, which adds a USB-C port next to the headphone jack, allowing you to recharge the phone while playing tunes. The dongle itself is plasticky, so you'll want to be careful when handling it, but the USB-C connector is long enough that there's enough clearance for the adapter from your pocket. The charger supports up to 60 watts, which is plenty for phones, tablets, and even most laptops. Belkin offers a two-year warranty.