Best Android phones with a headphone jack 2024

We take true wireless buds or TWS earbuds for granted these days, since they are so affordable and commonplace. Most smartphone users don't even notice or care that their phone does not have a headphone jack anymore. But for audiophiles and enthusiasts, wired audio will always trump wireless audio. Bluetooth audio has gotten way better over the years and with streaming platforms now beaming high-res uncompressed audio to your ears, you can get nearly the same fidelity on wireless too.

Wired is still the best way to get the best sounding audio without blowing through your savings. We are quite excited about the grand comeback of wired headphones, as you can now find plenty of premium options without having to spend a lot. While headphone jacks have been largely removed from flagship-tier phones, you can still get a powerful and modern Android phone with a headphone jack if you know where to look.

Spectacular phones like the Zenfone 11 Ultra are some of the best Android phones with a headphone jack. After conducting some tedious research on your behalf, we have rounded up all your best options right here.

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

There is no better Android phone with a headphone jack than the Zenfone 11 Ultra. ASUS took us by storm with the spunky little Zenfone 9 and 10. Both devices were small, bright, and absolutely delightful to use. ASUS has followed up these legendary phones with the Zenfone 11 Ultra. The 11 Ultra is larger than the Zenfone 10, but with a lot of shared DNA with the ROG phone series, it still packs excellent specs and a competitive price.

For the past few years, Zenfone has been known for its small yet powerful phones, but with the 11 Ultra, ASUS no longer sells a great small phone. Although we are sad that ASUS bumped up the display size, the phone is otherwise a superb buy. You can get the 6.78-inch ASUS Zenfone 11 in four demure colors called Eternal Black, Skyline Blue, Misty Gray, and Desert Sand. The smoldering bright red that had become a signature look for the Zenfone series is not available this time around.

The excellent Zenfone 11 Ultra has powerful internals, packing a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor as well as 12GB or 16GB RAM and 256GB or 512GB storage. Amazingly, you also get premium features like 15W wireless charging and an IP68 water and dust-proof rating. For $900, this is the best Android phone with an AUX port.

Best budget

Like the last Moto G Stylus 5G, this 2024 Moto G Stylus 5G refresh aims to be one of the most complete budget packages available with a large battery, stylus, and headphone jack. Compared to the 2023 version, this phone has the same Qualcomm SoC with a bump to 8GB of RAM. There have been a few upgrades, though, with a new OLED display that gets bright enough to see on a sunny day outdoors. It’s even got improved camera sensors so you can take some solid photos with this phone.

The headphone jack is on the bottom, to the left of the 2.0 spec USB-C port. This placement makes it easy to use your phone while using your headphones or if you’ve got an aux cable running to your car stereo. The battery on this phone is a fairly massive 5000mAh with 30W wired charging and 15W wireless charging, so you can keep listening all day without worry.

The Moto G Stylus, like most Moto G phones, has strong band support for LTE and 5G on the Big Three U.S. carrier, so you can bring it with you to just about any prepaid or postpaid carrier if you buy it unlocked. The phone launched with Android 14, so it’s up-to-date, however, it’s only planned to get one OS update, which falls short of Samsung and Google’s update policies.

Best for audiophiles

Sony has become quite the niche player in the Android space. The 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 S24 Ultra, though, and almost as powerful. 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 9 Pro retains the clean and unassuming design language, but as I note in my review, 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 them on the shoulder panels (doubling as touch buttons) is a clear indication of what this phone does.

Part of that focus is to keep the headphone jack, along with stereo speakers with Dolby DTS:X sound. I couldn't believe how loud and crisp the speakers were during my testing. The ICE 13 cooling system is phenomenal, which helps the cause in both performance and battery life. The notch-less display will blow you away as it did to me, protected with Gorilla Glass 5 and aluminum edges. There's an under-display camera instead of your regular front camera, making the 6.8-inch 120Hz 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 Gen 3 chipset, the Red Core 2 Pro co-processor, a 6,500mAh battery, 80W fast wired charging, decent cameras, three gaming mics, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.3. 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. Thankfully, the mighty Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra fills the gap nicely thanks to its flagship-tier SoC and excellent display. You can purchase the brilliant Zenfone 11 Ultra to get literally every feature under the sun, including a 3.5mm audio port and wireless charging. The phone comes in some beautiful colorways, and it delivers a sublime user experience owing to its top-notch internals.

These phones won't replace your Walkman

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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