I think this is a false comparison for two reasons<p>1) adding the microphone and volume function to the headjack is a different cable than a normal TRS 3.5mm aux cable, which is the cable we all love. I would rather get rid of the 4 wired microphone enabled 3.5mm than lose the 3.52mm altogether.<p>2)  all of the problems you mentioned that revolve around software - Apple cables not working on android, etc - are only going to get word by introducing USB into this.  The idea is to remove proprietary things from analog audio, that&#x27;s the whole reason the standard survived.<p>It also goes without saying that there is an inherit loss of utility caused by this switch, since so many of the products I already own use 3.5mm.