Infrared Blasters.They used to exist in most smartphones, less Apple 5 years ago. They still do, in some Huawei and Xiaomi phones.Itu2019s a feature nobody really knows the value of unless they actually use it.An example. Back in my school, all the classrooms were air-conditioned, yet the remote is always missing. We would often spend the first 5 minutes of the lesson trying to beg, borrow and steal the remote from another class.The worst part is that there were several brands of aircons in the school. There was Daikin, Mitsubishi, Carrier just to name a few. Sometimes we couldnu2019t find a suitable remote and would just give up. Unbearable in 35u00b0C weather in Singapore.Annoying.One day, I remembered my old phone, a HTC One M7, had an IR blaster and promptly brought it to school the next day.The IR blaster is integrated into the power button, a smart design imo.The remote app on the M7 didnu2019t support Carrier aircons, but it had a feature where it could record the IR pulses from an actual remote, so that soon became a non-issue.I have no idea why phone companies decided to remove it. This, along with the headphone jack removal baffles me. Yes, phones in 2023 are light years ahead of those just 5 years ago, yet they are less utilitarian than their ancestors.Iu2019m glad to see IR blasters coming back in Huawei and Xiaomi phones. However just like the headphone jack, it could be taken away from us overnight.Cheers to more utilitarian phones.The things we use frequently in our lives should focus more on function than form.