I guess I'm alone in having bad luck with 3.5mm jacks ... I've always found them extremely unreliable.
PS. never bought anything from Apple, likely never will. Hardware monopolies are dangerous (they have a defacto monopoly on profit in multiple markets).
they suck!
they short as you insert and remove. for some audio amps (really high end ones) they don't have protection circuits in them and - yes if you can believe it - simply inserting and removing the TRS jack (1/4" but same happens on 1/8") while music is playing causes the final mosfets to blow and/or the bias resistors. I don't like that, but its how things are and I'm just reporting it (dont shoot the messenger).
crosstalk is also measurable with the trs connector. I didn't believe it until I saw it first hand.
it spins and the contacts are usually not precise and so you get noise and bounces.
sometimes the tolerances are so bad, it breaks or jams. yes, this is china we have to thank for that.
overall, I can't wait until we can get rid of this connector. BUT - the simple fact is, all phones come with 1/8 or 1/4 trs and that's NOT going to change. so, while the connector is a POS, we're pretty much stuck with it since its not sensible to rebuy expensive phones and if you have to adapt it, you just made things WORSE, not better.
I hate the trs jack. but we can't just change it now. installed base and all that.