Comment by makeitdouble

If we really engineer around the same connector with extra thinness the best bet could be on partly open ports: if the phone covered 75% of the barrel circumference by left out the other 25% exposed I assume it would still work.

I see it through the same lens as the cassette players like the Toshiba KT-AS10 that left part of the cassette outside for the absolute minimal footprint:

https://qth.tzpfsokx.cloud/index.php?main_page=product_info&...

PS: there is a mini headphone jack standard, but I'm not sure it's any good. At least it would clear the DAC problem, just still need a dongle.