The article raises the spectre of DAC-less phones to cut costs but I don't see that ever happening unless the microphone and speaker are removed too, so not implementing it, at least for the foreseeable future where everything still has 3.5mm sockets, seems.. foolhardy. Maybe we'll have worse DACs? I know that in my experience the difference between an acceptable dac and a great dac is not one I can notice with my ears