Fairphone wants to expand to 23 new markets and reach the €400 price point

I'd rather let the fairphone go.

I like having options and the versatility personally 😁

The 3.5mm jack can also be used to record video audio with a much better microphone, attach a HW infrared blaster, or use your device as a crude oscilloscope im a pinch with appropriate software

The more common use case is people with existing wired headphones - there's honestly no need to cast aside perfectly good cans for no reason. Yes USB-C DACs exist, but IMO that's a completely manufactured expense and inconvenience, considering almost all phones still have the 3.5mm dac and amplifier components physically present on the mainboard: only now you must purchase a dongle to access the output via passthrough, or purchase a third party dongle that includes its own DAC.

My pain point though is the fact that users with wired headphones are now being forced to induce more usage cycles on a single connector port (which is not always economically repairable on modern devices), and all the avoidable e-waste produced by these things when the unreplaceable, consumable batteries give up the ghost after two years of ownership

I cant, wireless earbuds suck ass.

You don't.

NEVER

Is this Innovation™?

You must be mistaken. They stopped selling and supporting those earbuds right after they came out.

Buy their wireless headphones instead. They promise that the same thing won't happen with those!