Companies have to make decisions that will, at the very least, make quite a lot of people upset at any given moment. Some companies handle it better than others. Apple, for instance, has a pretty solid track record with just barreling down the road it's on, doing whatever it wants, and either people get on board or not. Other companies will do things a bit slower, but, ultimately, probably end up on the same road Apple's been on.

And then we have the times where the rumor mill tells us Apple is going to do something, so other companies do it first.

Remember the iPhone X and the rumors suggesting Apple was going to ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack? That caused a lot of commotion, but Motorola actually beat them to it. Now, Apple got even more flack when it described its move to remove the headphone jack as "courageous", because to a lot of people that probably doesn't fit the definition of the word all that well. And here we are in 2020 and people are still clamoring for the headphone jack, so maybe Apple (and other companies for that matter) was a bit premature on that move.

Wireless headphones are indeed seeing more usage these days, and Apple (and other companies) have themselves to thank for that. By removing the headphone jack, a lot of people didn't want to switch to USB-C (or Lightning for that matter) and opted to switch to wireless headphones instead. Even Samsung, one of the companies that raged against Apple's decision to opt out of a 3.5mm jack in their phones, has ultimately come around.

Now the Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra are launching this week and Samsung isn't going to include headphones in the box for customers in the Untied States. (Buyers in Europe won't have the same issue to deal with.) It's a bit of a bummer because Samsung's wired headphones are AKG-tuned, so they actually offer a bit better audio quality than other in-the-box headphones out there. So not including these headphones with the expensive new phone might not sit well with some potential customers.

But, I'm here to say that Samsung is actually handling the situation pretty well! The company will actually give buyers of a Galaxy Note 20 and/or Galaxy Note 20 Ultra a free pair of the AKG-tuned in-ear wired headphones if they contact customer support and request a pair. Samsung says wired headphones usage has dwindled quite a bit, and, as a result, decided including them in the box in the United States wasn't worth it. But the fact the company is still offering them, and at no additional cost is a good move.

It's probably not courageous or anything, but it'll do.

Apple is said to be removing its own wired headphones from the iPhone 12 box later this year, and now that Samsung is doing it that seems like a pretty solid guess. It's hard to imagine that Apple would do the same thing here as Samsung, offer up free wired headphones if people requested them, but maybe we can keep our fingers crossed if they don't come in the box.

What do you think? Is Samsung handling the no headphones in the box situation the correct way? Or do you think the company should just keep them in the box no matter what? Let me know!