Smartphones are also generally a lot larger, so they don't fit in my pocket very well while cycling or running.
I need my smartphone to do a whole bunch of things outside playing music, and restricting myself to specific models with physical audio control buttons and small screens makes the market a lot smaller and would probably leave me with a poorer phone than picking one without needing to think about its ability to play music while exercising. I did this for my previous phone and the result wasn't very pleasant, so went with the separate players this time around.
Different headphones might be an option, but again a lot of the better phones are ditching headphone jacks, so it would be restricting my phone options.
I need my smartphone to do a whole bunch of things outside playing music, and restricting myself to specific models with physical audio control buttons and small screens makes the market a lot smaller and would probably leave me with a poorer phone than picking one without needing to think about its ability to play music while exercising. I did this for my previous phone and the result wasn't very pleasant, so went with the separate players this time around.
Different headphones might be an option, but again a lot of the better phones are ditching headphone jacks, so it would be restricting my phone options.