In the age of smartphones without headphone jacks, Nintendo's new Switch Lite doesn't let you use wireless headphones
- Like the original Nintendo Switch, the new Nintendo Switch Lite doesn't come with Bluetooth support for wireless headphones.
- Lack of Bluetooth support for headphones was a common complaint with the original Switch.
- It's not deal-breaker, but its conspicuous that a handheld game console doesn't support Bluetooth audio in 2019 when the smartphone industry is moving away from wired headphones.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
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.
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.
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.