Best Android phones with a headphone jack 2025

A headphone jack is one feature pretty much no one bothers with these days when looking for a new phone. Wireless audio has gotten so good that it can offer comparable quality. Enthusiasts and audiophiles will probably disagree with this though, and this niche set of users would rather have wired audio over wireless even if it meant compromising on other features.

All the best Android phones these days lack a headphone jack but you can still find a good selection of flagship and budget phones that still rock one. The Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra is the top pick on our list. It offers flagship-grade performance, a stunning design, and Hi-Res Audio playback support.

If you don't feel like spending all that much or need something dedicated towards gaming, we've got more picks of some of the best Android phones with a headphone jack.

Namerah Saud Fatmi

Namerah enjoys geeking out over accessories, gadgets, and all sorts of smart tech. She spends her time guzzling coffee, writing, casual gaming, and cuddling with her furry best friends.

At a glance

Best overall

The Zenfone 12 Ultra largely carries on the design philosophy ASUS took on with the previous model, right down to the same screen and (mostly) same internals to go along with IP68 protection. Taking some elements from the ROG phone series adds an extra punch to this device that only makes the headphone jack's presence a more pleasant addition.

Powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, you can expect outstanding gaming performance and smooth multitasking. Not to mention a cleaner, bloat-free ZenUI overlay on top of Android 15. The problem is ASUS remains stingy on the updates, only promising two years of Android OS updates.

You can get the Zenfone 12 Ultra in three colors called Ebony Black, Sakura White, and Sage Green. Given, this trio, it seems ASUS is moving away from some of the brighter colors of generations past.

The phone also retains the same 5500mAh battery as the last two year, and easily lasts a full day per charge. There's just no charger in the box, so your best bet for a faster charge is to use any PD charger up to 65W.

While the Zenfone 12 Ultra replaces the 11 Ultra, the latter may be the better value because it's so similar without the higher price tag.

Best budget

The new Moto G Power 2025 boasts of many notable improvements over the 2024 model, without any bump in price. For starters, it gets an updated design which puts it in line with the Motorola's more premium Edge series phones. The build and construction is also surprisingly solid for a $300 phone. The vegan leather back feels good and the new Leaf Green color is sure to turn heads.

Perhaps the biggest addition is the IP68/IP69 rating for extreme waterproofing. This makes it as resilient to water ingress as more expensive phones like the OnePlus 13, which is a commendable feat. The 6.8-inch display is still an LCD panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, but with a max brightness of 1,000 nits we didn't face any issues viewing content in most lighting conditions.

Performance is not the best as the MediaTek Dimensity 6300 is a bit of a downgrade to the previous model. The interface can feel a bit sluggish at times even with 8GB of RAM, but overall, it's still very useable. The cameras are also a bit meh despite having a high-resolution 50MP main sensor. The ultrawide has autofocus so it can double up as a macro camera, which is nice. Although it might seem like there's a third rear camera sensor, that's just a light sensor.

Battery life is solid and charging is fairly quick too at 30W, but the charger is sold separately. Motorola has kept the 15W wireless charging, which again, is not commonly found in this segment. There's Android 15 with two years of OS upgrades promised by Motorola. Overall, the Moto G Power 2025 is one of the best phones under $300 with a headphone jack that also offers a handful of premium features.

Best for audiophiles

The Sony Xperia 1 VI offers unique features like native support for Sony's Alpha cameras. The software and bezels are very 2016-core, even if you do get Android 14 out of the box. You also get a marvelous headphone jack with LDAC support for hi-res audio, so audiophiles will love the device regardless.

To help the device stand out, Sony equipped the Xperia 1 VI with Zeiss cameras. The camera app is no longer convoluted like the previous generations, combining photo and video functions into one app. Since this phone caters to cinematographers, it has outstanding Zeiss cameras that deliver very natural-looking photographs. You even get a telephoto lens and 4K video capture at 120Hz.

You get a lovely 6.5-inch 120Hz LTPO OLED display on the Sony Xperia 1 VI, coupled with the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, 12GB of RAM, and either 256GB or 512GB of onboard storage. Gone is the 21:9 aspect ration from the last-gen Xperia 1 V as well, replaced by a standard 19.5:9 ratio. The phone still has a microSD card slot, which we love to see in this day and age. You'll be blown away by the very capable stereo sound system of the device.

Sony has promised three platform upgrades and four years of security updates for this exorbitantly expensive phone. It's still cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, though, and almost as powerful in real-world usage. Unfortunately, the Xperia 1 VI misses out on cool software features and a quick charging speed to compete with the big name brands like Samsung and Google.

Best performance

The ASUS ROG Phone 9 Pro means business, and we discovered in our review, you will be hard-pressed to find phone with a headphone jack that outperforms this one. It even has high-quality stereo speakers and shoulder buttons to make this an effective mobile gaming rig. Better cameras this time around also mean it can double as a decent mobile photography tool.

This is the pricier version of the ROG Phone 9, but both phones have a lot in common sharing many of the same specs and features. You get two Type-C ports, one HDMI port, an audio jack, shoulder triggers, and a new Anime Vision panel on the back with higher LED density.

Under the hood, ASUS fitted this ROG Phone with all the latest internals. There's the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor powering the device, as well as Bluetooth 5.4, WiFi 7, UFS 4.0 storage, and an under-display fingerprint scanner. The large 6.78-inch 165Hz AMOLED display has a peak brightness level of 2,500 nits and is secured by Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The bigger 5,800mAh battery can be charged at 65W, and you even get 15W wireless charging.

Best value

While the Galaxy A25 isn’t Samsung’s cheapest phone, it isn’t too far off. Even so, this phone packs some surprising hardware starting with a large 6.5-inch AMOLED display running up to 120Hz with 1000 nits of peak brightness. That’s bright enough to see outdoors on a sunny day. The Samsung Exynos 1280 SoC powering the phone isn’t exactly impressive, but it gets the job done with plenty of power for messaging, social media, and of course, music streaming apps.

The headphone jack is on the bottom of the phone, to the left of the 2.0-speed USB-C charging port. Since it’s on the bottom, it’s easy to use with an aux cable in the car or keep your headphones in while using other apps on your phone. You’ll be able to keep using the phone for hours on end as well with a large 5000mAh battery and support for 25W charging.

Where Samsung really shows its teeth in the budget category is with software. Samsung has included Android 14 with its One UI 6.1 skin and has promised five years of updates. That puts this phone’s support on par with some flagships, like the Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra, at least in terms of long-term software support.

Best for gaming

The RedMagic 10 Pro retains the clean and unassuming design language as the RedMagic 9 Pro, but it still maintains the subtle gamer-esque elements that make it a unique option on this list. RGB lighting is always a nice touch because you don't see that sort of thing on your average Android phone, and putting it on the built-in fan is a nice touch.

Part of that focus is to keep the headphone jack, along with stereo speakers with Dolby DTS:X sound. The liquid metal cooling system is said to be able to withstand "several hours of extreme heat." This helps the cause in both performance and battery life. The notch-less display will blow you away and it is protected with Gorilla Glass 5 and aluminum edges. There's an under-display camera instead of your regular front camera, making the 6.85-inch 144Hz AMOLED display look even nicer. While a little better, it doesn't yet meet a higher quality standard for a phone in this range.

Of course, this being a gaming phone, the guts are as beautiful as the exterior. You get the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, the new Red Core 3 Pro co-processor, a massive 7,050mAh battery, 100W fast wired charging, decent cameras, three gaming mics, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4. Considering the price, this is an excellent gaming phone that most people can afford.

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Other phones we tested

Not every phone makes the cut when it comes to the best ranked phones. This doesn't mean that that phone should be completely disregarded though. Sony in particular has excellent Android phones with audio jacks to offer, but some of them fail to compete with our top choices, or modern smartphones in general. This is for various reasons, including lackluster software, antiquated bezel sizes, and a lack of availability.

How to choose

Most companies have moved past the norm of including a headphone jack in the best Android phones. Users now have to decide whether they want a flagship device or a 3.5mm headphone jack. You can probably make do with USB-C headphone adapters if you don’t mind adding a little extra to your daily carry. If you’ve been holding off and none of these phones meet your needs, it may also be time to consider the best wireless headphones.

If you live in regions like Europe, Asia, Africa, or the Middle East, phone brands like Redmi, Poco, and even Sony Xperia are still including headphone jacks on some models.

There aren't many high-end phones that come with a headphone jack as well as the latest Android OS with years of guaranteed support. The Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra fills that gap nicely thanks to its flagship-tier SoC and excellent display, even if you're limited to two years of OS updates. You can purchase the Zenfone 12 Ultra to get key features, including a 3.5mm audio port and wireless charging.

These phones won't replace your Walkman

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Sony also deserves a mention for continuing to provide headphone jacks with its Xperia line of phones with very clever features, such as using headphones as an audio monitor for the cameras. Even so, Sony isn’t building phone versions of its Hi-Fi Walkman personal media players, and you’ll find the DAC (digital-to-analog converter) and amp still struggle with higher impedance listening. Still, if these other Android phones aren’t scratching the itch, phones like the Sony Xperia 1 VI do come with solid analog audio experiences.

If you’re looking for a headphone jack more for audio quality reasons, rather than convenience, many of these phones may prove to be disappointing. While most of these phones have decent audio quality and will be fine for a set of cheap earbuds, they’ll struggle to make higher-impedance headphones sound good. Some older devices, like the late LG V60, included a high-quality DAC and amplifier, but most phones available now stick to cheaper options.

Similarly, you can pick up one of the best DACs for Android, which can be left attached to your favorite headphones, or stowed away in your bag when you’re not using it. If you’re mostly looking for high-fidelity audio with streaming app support, you could check out one of the best MP3 players powered by Android from makers like Fiio and Sony Walkman.

How we test

In case you didn't know this, Android Central has been around for ages. After more than a decade of testing phones, we've become experts at judging Android devices. Having a versatile team also helps us ensure our views are well-rounded out and fair, especially with such a diverse team with rich personalities.

Our rigorous testing puts a phone through it all, just to find out how good or bad it really is. Altogether, our team tests hundreds of phones each year. This is why you can rely on us to recommend you the very best Android phones that come with a headphone jack.

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