Strawman?
I doubt many people even thought about it. For them, bluetooth was available. Now it is almost the only option.
Off the top of my head, there are savings in: Pick and place Stack Assembly Testing Improved phones/hour and therefore shorter/cheaper factory runs Packaging, especially if you eliminate the shitty wired earpieces in the box Less weight/volume and cheaper shipping Reduced warranty / chargeback because things that don’t exist can’t fail
All of these savings are small. But remember that the goal is to make/sell 500K+ units. And, this is an industry where the bean counters will kill their mothers to shave a penny off of the BOM.
So, yeah, for the OEM eliminating headphone jacks is a complete no brainer.
Flagship phones on the other hand are sold to another population who seems happy to spend more money for a small inconvenience.