Lol at people with the disagree button
what is there to disagree with?
More consumption = more of a carbon footprint
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple and Belkin Reducing Environmental Impact of Packaging With iPhone 13 Launch
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
what is there to disagree with?
More consumption = more of a carbon footprint
The cult that can't stop buying the annual Apple Crack doesn't want to hear about anything that might make that a bad or morally questionable indulgence.
Agreed. No matter what Apple does, it will never be good enough for some people. They look for anything they can to nit-pick about. To me, it seems quite obvious that they're not going to take measures that would drastically reduce their profitability, such as cutting back promotions and marketing to reduce demand. Nor are they going to do things that they believe will compromise the quality/integrity of their products, such as reverting back to replaceable memory, SSD, batteries, etc. They're simply taking measures to reduce their environmental impact while remaining just as profitable and producing just as high a quality of products. That's all, and it will never be more than that, so the negative Nancys are going to have to remain disappointed in Apple, I suppose.
So I take it most of you only use public transportation, and don't own your own vehicles, right? And don't forget to grow all your own fruits and vegetables too. And you better not be on the grid. Oh, but that would actually require a bigger sacrifice - we draw the line there, right?
No one's disagreeing about the simple math behind carbon footprint. What's disagreeable is this holier-than-thou attitude from people who you can almost guarantee aren't living consistently with their espoused principles. They simply have this particular pet concern, and because THEY hold onto their phones for a long time instead of upgrading frequently, that means everyone else should (and if they don't, they are bad people).
UTTER NONSENSE (sorry, had to shout so you could hear me up on that high horse of yours).
I actually bike to work, yeah. I started doing this in college, it got me in the best shape of my life, and I decided not to stop. I would be lying of I said my motivation was environmental, at least to begin with, but hey, two birds.
Quite the opposite compadre
I consume and I make no apologies about it and I hold zero guilt. Like none. No holier than thou mentality , I just don’t bend at the knee to the nonsense
I recycle when i can and think people who pollute and throw trash where they please are the scum of the earth. That’s where it stops though.
my footprint is so small i may as well not exist compared to Leo DiCaprio and Spielberg telling you to get that Prius you don’t want , and live In a shoebox, while chilling on their megayachts and flying private and cooling their 30 room mansions spread across the world
...but people who buy an iPhone and think they’re making the world a better place are delusional. And they do exist.
I certainly don't think like that, and I doubt there are many (or any) who do, as that's a ridiculous notion. Seems like a straw man to me. I think they (along with me) would simply agree that Apple is reducing waste in how they package the iPhone and are applauding that. In other words, they're still feeding our "addiction" (of whatever negative thing somebody wants to call it) but in a more environmentally-friendly way.
Well I don’t know who you are so I’m not speaking about you specifically obviously, the statement was made well before you interjected , with your false outrage but way to make it about you. Wonder why that is
Also your doubt can be there but
These people certainly exist. disillusioned SV folk, to start but doesn’t stop there.
they also don’t think they’re contributing to supporting child labor in factories by buying these products - but they are.
Apple will get credit when being green doesn’t also coincide with increasing profit margins. None repairable machines that require being shipped to repair facilities is a much bigger issue than plastic wrap on a phone box.
I think in a hyperbolic way you are alluding to the fact that Apple is marketing their efforts to reduce packaging waste in a way to make their customers feel better about continuing to buy their products? This is my contention with this entire situation. It isn't altruistic, because if it was, there would be no need to bring it to the limelight at all. It doesn't have to be altruistic though because they are a business; It's just marketing. There probably has never been a time in history where we talk globally about how we all effect our environment more than today, and Apple is appealing to those feelings by doing this. Saving money on charging hardware, packaging materials and shipping at the same time? Absolute BONUS.
essentially yeah but taken even a step further people then believe not only that buying the new iPhone “isn’t so bad” for the environment and take it to greater lengths to disillusion themselves into thinking they’re even doing good in fact specifically by buying it
look at how good a person I am for getting the iPhone 13 pro max day 1. It’s because I care!
you wanna eat the cake eat it. I’m not gonna fault any one for indulging. But when they get carried away with what good people theyre being by having the latest and greatest. on those grounds I cannot abide.
—
similarly people that drive Tesla’s think they’re making a world a better place For some odd reason. Where do you think that electricity is coming from on the backend? Petroleum. And considerably more than standard sedan vehicles which arent the private part measuring pick up truck variety.
teslas seem sweet... But I certainly wouldn’t buy one and then get on a soapbox how great a person I am because of it. I’d get one because selfishly but justifiably without repentance I want to feel the speed of that baby the noiseless engine and because I hate the experience of gas stations. Not because I don’t contribute a carbon footprint. Still do On the backend and then some.
Last edited:
Yikes. In post 176, you replied to someone's comment with "Lol at people with the disagree button" - when I was the only one who "disagreed" with that comment you quoted. Doesn't take a genius to figure out whom you were referring to (me). I guess you were hoping I wouldn't see that "indirect" shot you took at me, so you're getting testy now that I called you out on it and replied with reason. So actually it was you who "interjected" yourself, and I defended myself. Simple as that, and I have no further interest in discussing this with you 👋
P.S. Oh, but if you could quote someone's post on this thread or anywhere else on this forum that states they think they're saving the environment by purchasing iPhones, I'm all ears. Good luck hunting that unicorn.
Last edited:
You disagreed but without substantiation like the disagree button over Something so fundamentally a reality, so I can equally laugh at the effort if one could even call it that. It was “Hear my grumble war cry” and I heard you out and decided it was no more than a grumble
if you could effectively craft a contrarian opinion that not upgrading would not reduce ones footprint vs. upgrading I’d applaud you. But you didn’t.
I am not sure this is happening (maybe it is), but I suspect Apple's approach is to appeal to people in the market for new computing hardware, whatever that may be, and come out on top as seeming the most environmentally conscious.
If you look at their packaging over the years, this is a fairly recent transition (I'd say 2-3 years, but I don't open many new phones so I may be off; basing it on unboxings and photos I see on sites like this one). They probably could have pulled their earbuds the day they transitioned to lightning and never looked back. The consumer climate and expected reception of doing this as an environment-forward move was, I think, much more negative ten years ago than it is today. There's nothing particularly groundbreaking about packaging a phone in all carboard, now is simply the marketable time for Apple to do it.
It genuinely is a brilliant move because, as I have said numerous times, they use less packing material (save money), ship more phones in less space/weight (save money), give the consumer fewer peripherals than they used to (if I had to guess, the largest money savings step noted), AND continue selling products at the same prices they had been. And they don't say they are doing this to save money, thereby increasing profit per device sold. They point out it's environmentally beneficial, and that's not a lie. They've been great at marketing since Job's came back and continued to tap into what consumers want (or want to hear) ever since.
but if one really cared they wouldn’t upgrade. That’d have more of an impact than getting shiny new thing and touting there’s no plastic wrap on the box.
that’s like touting healthy practice in smoking cigarettes that are American spirits. If you really cared about health you’d not smoke cigarettes. Being fewer additives pales in comparison
…especially as mentioned when said company makes lots of elements of their products comically non repairable
like AirPods and replacing whole bottom case when butterfly keyboard inevitably fails (case battery keyboard) to name a few
I'm not arguing you are wrong here. I just don't know that there are many people thinking they are making an environmentally positive decision consuming Apple products.
I guess my point is that people frequently don't make black and white decisions. They are often willing to accept that their choice does come with consequences, but the degree of those consequences is, perhaps, slightly reduced now.
slightly reduced to the point of inconsequential.
that last statement confirms people think they’re doing good “I didn’t buy an android this year at least” as some deluded moral justification
there’s another option than buying the latest iPhone or the latest android. Which gets overlooked with the morality smoke and mirrors IF one cared enough to even consider the consequences of such a thing carbon footprint wise. And I’m not saying one should just saying IF one were to as many seem to be fixated on
as I mentioned when I indulge I don’t apologize and I feel no guilt. But that’s fundamentally different than “no charger and smaller box, so I did some good today” rationale
I think we are on the same side here lol. I am simply saying I suspect people justify things in different ways.
agreed but i repel such absurdity and say once again you want the latest just go for it. Doesn’t make you a terrible person not in my eyes at least
just dont go espousing how you’re “doing your part” even in the smallest of ways
Also not “you“ specifically. You to whoever is making That argument
It sounds like you are trying to tell other people what they should say/not say. Let them play their game and concentrate on playing your own game, if you have one. If you don’t have one, that is the real problem here.
It doesn’t add up only from your own perspective and your own perspective can be flawed or naive at best.