In the age of smartphones without headphone jacks, Nintendo's new Switch Lite doesn't let you use wireless headphones

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In the age of smartphones without headphone jacks, Nintendo's new Switch Lite doesn't let you use wireless headphones

Nintendo Switch Lite

Nintendo

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Nintendo recently revealed the new Switch Lite game console, offering a more compact package that's entirely designed to be a handheld device.

But it's still missing Bluetooth headphone support, and that's conspicuous in 2019 when portable handheld devices like smartphones are moving away from wired headphones to wireless.

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It's not a deal-breaker by any means. But if you switched to wireless headphones because your smartphone doesn't have a headphone jack, having to think about how you're going to listen to your game audio on the Switch Lite is likely going to be an inconvenience.

If you already own a Switch, you may have already come up with a solution, whether it's a Bluetooth audio add-on you connect to the console, or simply bringing along wired headphones in your bag along your wireless pair.

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My solution with my original Switch is to store the headphone cable that my Bluetooth headphones came with in my console's carrying case. It works, but I still would have preferred the Switch came with Bluetooth for audio.

Lack of Bluetooth headphone support was a common complaint with the original Switch console released in 2017, and it's somewhat surprising that Nintendo didn't address it in the Switch Lite two years later. At the same time, I can see why the Switch Lite - a cheaper version of the Switch that comes with fewer features - doesn't come with a feature that many wish the original Switch came with.

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