^^ Indeed. There really isn't a whole lot of hardware-based innovation they can put into smartphones any more. 'Thinner' would likely be the preferred marketing mantra.
I'm sure that the death of the headphone jack will be trumpeted as a break from shackles and limitations and so on and so forth. The phone manufacturers will thin the phones down further as a smokescreen, save money off the lesser electronics content in the phone, and start selling headphones with built in DACs themselves. They will also probably offer (foe sale, of course) half-way solutions, like a unit that will take data from the phone wirelessly, and into which we can plug regular 3.5mm jacks of "legacy" ear/head phones.
Folks who need portable audio, and need to buy a new phone will likely have to pony up for a new ear/headphone. I doubt if phones will come with a headphone/earphone in the box anymore ( = more savings and possibility for accessory-sales for the manufacturer).
