Apple may no longer consider chargers/adapters in the box.
As long as I can remember and smartphones I’ve unboxed, one thing was common, every brand included charging adapters. It’s been like this for decades now but seems like it’s gonna change soon. Speaking of change, Apple was the one, who first changed the unlocking practice by introducing TouchID, they were the ones who took the courage to remove the headphone jack to power the iPhone all day. Now, from who can we expect to exclude adapters.
An Apple analyst Ming-chi Kuo (The most accurate Apple analyst in the world) commented that the upcoming iPhone 12 will not come with an adapter or earbuds. Well, Apple is among the few OEMs that continued to provide both adapter and earbuds, whereas many smartphones OEM discontinued that long time ago and some didn’t even consider it in the first place. Kuo brought it to attention that by doing so, Apple will be able to provide the iPhone 12 at around iPhone 11 price. He isn’t sure about cable, whether it will continue to be included or not.
Many recent iPhone buyers reported that they were being surveyed by Apple about what they did with the power adapters that came with their previous iPhones.
It seems likely that Apple is gathering this data to help them decide whether they can get away with leaving both the EarBuds and the charger out of the box on the upcoming iPhone models.
Note that these are actually from emerging reports and not based on official announcements just yet.
Now, let’s not just stand up against their move and criticize, instead think about this sudden decision from Apple.
The decision apparently centers around the adapter, which doesn’t see as much wear and tear as cables do. The sturdy build of chargers has led us to a point where many of us have built up a collection of charging bricks, especially the slower speed bricks that boxes usually pack.
If you have family/friends living with you, it is common to have a few chargers tossed across the house too. So, the phones that now get purchased, we do end up leaving the charging brick and cable inside the box, until the time we need to replace an existing charger.
This may look more of a capitalistic move considering Apple’s highly-priced accessories. So at first, the move appears to be against the consumer’s real interests as it forces them to make an additional purchase while apparently providing a marketing point to Apple of keeping the pricing of the iPhone at the same level as its predecessor. But if you do think about the removal decision beyond the initial reaction, it does make sense especially if you have faster or more suitable charging options near you.
The decision to exclude the adapter is also assumed to bring the final cost of the smartphone down (not by much). The buyers will get this benefit in the form of an offset against the increased price of 5G hardware.
E-Waste is a real concern, this move could make users more conscious towards their accessories of how long they use it. If this decision pans out, I’m on-board with it as long as users can enjoy the better value, are you..??
