Or maybe not making everybody throw away their perfectly good headphones?

“everyone”? That’s a very bold claim. I would assume they did market research and concluded that putting more components in all of their phones is more wasteful than manufacturing a limited number of USB-C adapters for those who actually want it. Again: They’d sell wired headphones if the demand was that high.

Framework Computers also relegated the headphone jack to a USB-C adapter. There is clearly a wider shift in the industry.