We used to have earbuds that don't need to be charged because they had a headphone jack, didn't get lost so easily because they had a cord attached to a headphone jack, never lost the bluetooth connection because they had a headphone jack, and they cost less because they had a headphone jack. https://bsky.app/profile/daisyfm.bsky.social/post/3l3mfjc6sn62k
Planned obsolescence at play here ๐ข https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence
The luxuries that come from anything with a battery are great, but everything running a lithium-ion battery has its days numbered, and that's really unfortunate for the consumer and absolutely stellar for the business.
Meh.
Most average consumers (in other words, 90%+) don't know, and don't care about the audio quality, etc. They like convenience.
So that's who you market to.
I suspect the average person, lost, tore, broke, etc. wired ear buds before the battery would have given out anyway.
Just my anecdote, but 15 years back or so when Bluetooth earbuds weren't a thing yet, I bought a new wired pair every six months or so at least. Even when I'd run the wire under my shirt and stuff the slack in my pocket, eventually it would get caught and yank the earbuds out of my ears. When that happened too many times, the connection between the wire and the jack or buds would deteriorate.
I've actually never lost a Bluetooth earbud. I buy ones with the little wings so they actually stay. I don't have connection problems unless I'm on the opposite side of the house from my phone, so granted I'll switch to my trusty 30m long wired earbuds in those cases. I've also never had a battery die in one of these. As I type this I'm wearing a pair of Sony Bluetooth headphones that I bought at least 5 years ago, maybe 6 or 7, and as far as I can tell they work as well as they ever have.