Quit Complaining That iPhones Should Switch to USB-C
You’re wrong. Just wrong.
Just like every year since 2012, 2020’s iPhone 12 lineup charges via Apple’s proprietary Lightning connector (as well as Qi inductive charging). But unlike every iPhone ever, 2020’s iPhones don’t come with a charger or EarPods — only a Lightning to USB-C charging cable. Apple’s reasoning for this is that practically everyone already has several chargers and headphones laying around anyway, so including them with every new iPhone would simply be creating more e-waste for future generations to deal with while requiring the extraction and creation of more materials for these largely unneeded items. In addition, iPhone boxes can be made much smaller without chargers and headphones in them, meaning that way more iPhones can be shipped in much less space, requiring a lot less fuel to transport them. This is definitely a win for Apple in terms of saving money on chargers, headphones, and transportation — and if you believe Apple (which I do), this is also a win for the environment.
And no, absolutely none of this means that Apple should switch the iPhone from Lightning to USB-C for convenience or environmental reasons. So if you’re complaining that they should for either or both of these reasons, you should stop. Because both reasons are wrong. Very wrong. So stop.
