Apple Lowers Price of EarPods by $10 Now That They Aren't Included With iPhones

[rfrmac]

So if I'm new to Apple, and I purchase a new iPhone, it doesn't work coming out of the box. I still have to purchase headphones, cable, and power supply from someone. Great marketing. Now if I'm a current owner of an iPhone, want to upgrade to the new Pro iPhone, I need to purchase a new charger from someone before I can use the phone. Another great marketing move. Don't have at least a cable like the iWatch so I could charge it the new way. Did the price go down for not having a charger, cable, and headphones? Nope, another great marketing move. Is this move customer-friendly? Nope. Pat yourselves on the back for being environmentally friendly but I will still have to purchase a new charging device for the Pro, and headphones. I don't see how this saves trees. Charging the same for less is the new environmental way but is it truthful? Nope.

 

[Techwatcher]

They had the "COURAGE" to remove the 3.5 mm audio jack. But when would they have the "COURAGE" to put USB C connector on iPhones? Wouldn't be more convenient and ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY for all these years if I could use the same adapter and the same cable for my iPhone, iPad, and Macbook? Corporate greed at the highest level!

iPhones are planned to go port-less. Bringing MagSafe back is another indicator of that. They probably see it's pointless to include USB-C [which is actually physically bigger than Lightning] in a few new iPhone models when that's the plan. So instead of shifting everyone off lightning to USB-C they are riding it out.

 

[bniu]

They really wanted to, but phone prices only move in multiples of $50 in either direction.

Remember the iPhone 7 Plus started at $769? If power adapter is $20 and EarPods are now $20, guess what is $40 cheaper than $769? $729!

It looks like the original price was going to be $769 to start.

 

[bniu]

iPhones are planned to go port-less. Bringing MagSafe back is another indicator of that. They probably see it's pointless to include USB-C [which is actually physically bigger than Lightning] in a few new iPhone models when that's the plan. So instead of shifting everyone off lightning to USB-C they are riding it out.

With iPhones going port less and iPads going to USB-c, seems like lightning will get relegated to charging some accessories that only need a charge once every few months, Apple TV remote, Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, magic keyboard, would not surprise me to see some of those go usb-c as well and then lightning can be 100% out.

 

[Dekema2]

Good. Now all the people complaining about Apple being greedy can stop saying those frivolous things.

Including EarPods sucks for the environment. Instead, Apple can use *SOME* of the money saved towards reinvesting in R&D in other areas. (yes, OF COURSE they'll pocket some of that savings too)

We're talking about a $2tn company here and you're saying they're not greedy?

Even then with R&D, you don't even need tens of billions of dollars for this. They have a war chest.

 

[Jgltno]

Am I the only person on the planet who has more than a few USB A power adapters AND USB A Lighting cables lying around?

THANK YOU! I think some are missing the point. A large majority of the people already own USB A power adapter & lightning cables. Most are already plugged in our beds, kitchens, living rooms... where ever.
Personally, I get a new iPhone and I continue using the same cables that were in place and leave the new ones in the box untouched. I’m kind of happy they at least gave me another USB C cable to expand my collection - those we still fight over in the house since they are a rare site 😂😅

 

[C DM]

THANK YOU! I think some are missing the point. A large majority of the people already own USB A power adapter & lightning cables. Most are already plugged in our beds, kitchens, living rooms... where ever.
Personally, I get a new iPhone and I continue using the same cables that were in place and leave the new ones in the box untouched. I’m kind of happy they at least gave me another USB C cable to expand my collection - those we still fight over in the house since they are a rare site 😂😅

Except it seems that those won't work as well when it comes to charging the newer phones (which is likely why the USB-C cable is now included as well, although without a power adapter).

 

[WiseAJ]

The new 256gb/512gb pro/pro max models actually decreased in price by $50 from last years. So people that get those can spend $38 of that savings to buy back the EarPods and charging block if they really really need them and still have $12 more.

 

[phalseHUD]

Good. Now all the people complaining about Apple being greedy can stop saying those frivolous things.

Including EarPods sucks for the environment. Instead, Apple can use *SOME* of the money saved towards reinvesting in R&D in other areas. (yes, OF COURSE they'll pocket some of that savings too)

Don’t all the new iPhones, including the previous models still on sale, now include a lightning —> USB-C charger cable, instead of lightning —> USB A, like what all the power adapters Apple bundled in the past expect?

Think of all the money Apple will make from people needing these new USB-C chargers... Environment my ar$e!

 

[macintoshmac]

No, the thinking of Apple is they can sell more overpriced accessories.

In the past, I bought an Apple device and that was it.

Now when I buy something from Apple, Apple employees always try to sell me additional overpriced accessories.

So it is a clear strategy of Apple to make more profits.

Agreed. The USB-C to Lightning is a good step though, considering their computers are USB-C now. But removing the power adapter is not in the right spirit.

One may argue that you can charge from the laptop or from the USB-C adapter of the laptop, but that is not the point. Not everyone will have a Mac laptop and not everyone will have used iPhones before. Also, with kids in the family, or with heavy users, people will need their own adapters very soon even if they tried to work with one or two adapters in the house. This is clearly a tactic to extract more money while coming across as considerate towards the environment. Sad thing is, it will not backfire on Apple because of millions of blind fanboys.

 

[WiseAJ]

Except it seems that those won't work as well when it comes to charging the newer phones (which is likely why the USB-C cable is now included as well, although without a power adapter).

All chargers work great overnight. Don’t need a fast charger when you’re sleeping and the size of the batteries these days means unless you are heavily using it on full brightness you should be able to get through a day.

For those that can’t last a whole day some people also have the old 12w iPad USB A chargers as well that still works and is only slightly worse than the 18w usb c block and over twice as fast as the old standard 5w cube.

 

[farewelwilliams]

We're talking about a $2tn company here and you're saying they're not greedy?

Even then with R&D, you don't even need tens of billions of dollars for this. They have a war chest.

A $2 trillion dollar market cap itself is not inherently greedy. Their business practices define if they're greedy or not. So I don't know why you specifically gave that reason for Apple being greedy. There are plenty of other reasons you could have stated that I'd agree with. Not market cap.

I don't know what you mean by tens of billions of dollars.

EarPods cost maybe $2 for bill of materials for Apple to produce (not including assembling, packing, shipping, inventory costs + margins). Apple sold maybe 150 million iPhones last year. By not including EarPods in the next 150 million iPhones, this saves Apple $300 million.

You think Apple just pockets that $300 million in 2020 as pure net profit (or increased margins) and the budget remained the same for this new 5G iPhone? NO! Apple likely redirected SOME of that towards doubling flash storage for base tier, cost of implementing new 5G tech, implementing new camera tech in Pro Max, purchasing Intel cellular division which will be important in future iPhones, etc...ON TOP OF pocketing it.

 

[C DM]

All chargers work great overnight. Don’t need a fast charger when you’re sleeping and the size of the batteries these days means unless you are heavily using it on full brightness you should be able to get through a day.

For those that can’t last a whole day some people also have the old 12w iPad USB A chargers as well that still works and is only slightly worse than the 18w usb c block and over twice as fast as the old standard 5w cube.

Might apply to some, just as it might not to others.

 

[C DM]

A $2 trillion dollar market cap itself is not inherently greedy. Their business practices define if they're greedy or not. So I don't know why you specifically gave that reason for Apple being greedy. There are plenty of other reasons you could have stated that I'd agree with. Not market cap.

I don't know what you mean by tens of billions of dollars.

EarPods cost maybe $2 for bill of materials for Apple to produce (not including assembling, packing, shipping, inventory costs + margins). Apple sold maybe 150 million iPhones last year. By not including EarPods in the next 150 million iPhones, this saves Apple $300 million.

You think Apple just pockets that $300 million in 2020 as pure net profit (or increased margins) and the budget remained the same for this new 5G iPhone? NO! Apple likely redirected SOME of that towards doubling flash storage for base tier, cost of implementing new 5G tech, implementing new camera tech in Pro Max, purchasing Intel cellular division which will be important in future iPhones, etc...ON TOP OF pocketing it.

That might be better for Apple and all, while the consumers are getting less than what they used to get when the purchased an iPhone.

 

[farewelwilliams]

Don’t all the new iPhones, including the previous models still on sale, now include a lightning —> USB-C charger cable, instead of lightning —> USB A, like what all the power adapters Apple bundled in the past expect?

Think of all the money Apple will make from people needing these new USB-C chargers... Environment my ar$e!

What are you talking about? USB-C chargers can be used for many devices. New iPads. New AirPods studio. Apple Watch has a magnetic charger to USB-C. New MagSafe/MagSafe duo uses USB-C.

People buying USB-C chargers have multiple uses for them as opposed to 5W USB-A chargers that barely provides any power.

USB-C is literally more environmentally friendly than including USB-A if you consider the many devices a user will use in their lifetime.

 

[Hammerd]

A pair of earpods is still included in the box in the european countries, since it is required by law

 

[C DM]

as opposed to 5W USB-A chargers that barely provides any power.

While Apple has been including them all along until they just basically abruptly completely got rid of any power adapters and changed up the charging cable.

 

[HardRain]

People just need to stop defending this and realize what this is. Its way for Apple to make more money off of the consumer. Thinking anything other than this is just pure blind fanboyism.

I love Apple products, but this is as greedy as it gets and its honestly pretty low.

Can I just say I love your honesty.

I too am a huge Apple fan, had many great years using Apple products, but there comes a time to learn to separate their products from their “business practices”. Once we can all do that I think it will lead to a more honest level of scrutiny and better overall outcomes for the consumer.

 

[farewelwilliams]

While Apple has been including them all along until they just basically abruptly completely got rid of any power adapters and changed up the charging cable.

USB-A chargers aren't going to be used that much in the next 10 years. USB-C chargers will.

Dealing with USB-A chargers for small devices, then USB-C for bigger devices, then dealing with USB-C, Watch, Qi, and Lightning ports creates a 2x4 matrix you have to worry about. Starting to get rid of USB-A now will get us closer to simplifying to a 1x4 matrix. Then removing lightning will get us to a 1x3 matrix. Maybe making Watch compatible with Qi will make it a 1x2 matrix.

 

[farewelwilliams]

That might be better for Apple and all, while the consumers are getting less than what they used to get when the purchased an iPhone.

You're talking as if Apple would keep the price the same. Apple would gladly force everyone to pay for a $809 iPhone 12 with charger if that helps.

 

[C DM]

You're talking as if Apple would keep the price the same. Apple would gladly force everyone to pay for a $809 iPhone 12 with charger if that helps.

I'm talking like we've all seen what Apple has been doing for all these years with the accessories that have been included in the prices people paid for the iPhones without Apple adding on to them to account for those accessories specifically.

 

[macduke]

I think it was probably ok to get rid of the headphones, but not the charger. Someone like my grandparents, who are actually buying a new iPhone this year, would be so confused if they didn't have me to make sure they knew they needed to buy an adapter. Sure, they have an iPhone 7, but they don't own a damn thing that's powered by USB-C or Qi, lol, and they're planning on keeping the older 7 for my grandpa to use to replace his old flip phone (he knows how to use the iPhone, but they just have one smartphone line now and he's really frustrated with the flip phone). They currently only own two chargers. One is a car charger, and the other came with the iPhone 7. Both are USB-A.

I think they should have waited at least another year or two on the charger. USB-C is still fairly new to a lot of non-tech enthusiasts, unless you're a gamer with a Switch or have a higher end iPad (both of which tend to mean you have more tech stuff than the average person). I think it's pretty likely that the next iPhone or the one after that won't have any sort of wired charging, which is why they're easing us into it with the new MagSafe stuff. I think I kind of get that now after hearing some YouTubers talk about how you can hold it while using it unlike most wireless chargers, which would be key for moving away from Lightning or any sort of directly attached wired charging cable. Maybe Qi could add this to their spec, as I think Apple is a part of their working group or something.

I also hope they make this very apparent to people when ordering the new iPhone that you'll need these accessories if you don't have them already.

 

[confusedpurple]

Manufacturing and shipping 3 boxes instead of 1 is way better for the environment, clearly.

Because every iPhone user is going to buy a charger and crappy headphones?

 

[FlyingDutch]

Considering they were included with a purchase of an iPhone before, seems like even at $19 it's $19 that is being paid by consumers when they would be purchasing a new iPhone without getting anything for it now.

Correct.
and the whole “customers already have those” argument is flawed. I sold my accessories (EarPods and power brick) with every iphone I sold.
If I would buy an iphone 12 Pro I will be forced to buy a new power brick.
This is Apple being greedy and charging customers for their margin. This is Tim Cook at his best.

 

[FlyingDutch]

I for one enjoy doubled base storage at no additional cost which some of that EarPods money paid for. Think about that before writing such a stupid comment.

Double base storage should have been included since last year $999 iPhone 11 Pro. It is not a gift.