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Yeah but Apple’s main purpose for doing that is to cut costs. Helping the environment is just a nice side effect that they disguised as their main purpose to keep the hardcore fans happy. Even if that weren’t the case, the end doesn’t justify the means, as other people already pointed out. Furthermore, if Apple really cared about the environment they wouldn’t release new iphone models and by doing so throw millions of more devices out into the world every year, but they will continue to do so because their greed has gone out of their control.
thats not true tho. Or are you saying there should not be smartphones at all, or any other devices.
 
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thats not true tho. Or are you saying there should not be smartphones at all, or any other devices.

No I’m saying Apple ought to release new iphone models less often than every year. Releasing every year creates a lot more electronic waste than the chargers, as they sell millions of iphones every year.
 
No I’m saying Apple ought to release new iphone models less often than every year. Releasing every year creates a lot more electronic waste than the chargers, as they sell millions of iphones every year.
But making ANY number of phones is worse on the environment than making no phones. They should just stop all production immediately if they’re concerned about the environment.
 
But making ANY number of phones is worse on the environment than making no phones. They should just stop all production immediately if they’re concerned about the environment.

Well they can’t stop making phones altogether, unfortunately they’re a for profit company. But they could release new phones every 2-3 years instead of every single year. That would substantially reduce the amount of electronic waste. A lot more than just removing the chargers from the box.
 
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Well they can’t stop making phones altogether, unfortunately they’re a for profit company. But they could release new phones every 2-3 years instead of every single year. That would substantially reduce the amount of electronic waste. A lot more than just removing the chargers from the box.
I’m not quite sure I’m following your logic here. Are you suggesting that if Apple only released a new phone every 2-3 years that they’d sell fewer phones?
 
I’m not quite sure I’m following your logic here. Are you suggesting that if Apple only released a new phone every 2-3 years that they’d sell fewer phones?

No, just that making (and selling) the same amount of phones every 2-3 years will generate less electronic waste than making that amount every year. Just as an example, let’s say they make 1 million phones every year, that’s 4 million more phones out there in 4 years, assuming Apple sold all of them. If they released every other year instead, that’d be only 2 million more phones out there in the same 4 years, also assuming Apple sold all of them.
 
No, just that making (and selling) the same amount of phones every 2-3 years will generate less electronic waste than making that amount every year. Just as an example, let’s say they make 1 million phones every year, that’s 4 million more phones out there in 4 years, assuming Apple sold all of them. If they released every other year instead, that’d be only 2 million more phones out there in the same 4 years, also assuming Apple sold all of them.
I'm still not following. If Apple only released a phone every 2 years they'd have to make twice as many as they would when they release them yearly as they'd have 2 years worth of demand built up.
 
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No, just that making (and selling) the same amount of phones every 2-3 years will generate less electronic waste than making that amount every year. Just as an example, let’s say they make 1 million phones every year, that’s 4 million more phones out there in 4 years, assuming Apple sold all of them. If they released every other year instead, that’d be only 2 million more phones out there in the same 4 years, also assuming Apple sold all of them.
If we really wanted to cut down on the amount of e-waste, a better place to start would be all the cheap plastic handphones being pumped out by the Chinese smartphone OEMs, that go on to either break down or be replaced quickly and then find their way into landfills because there isn't any easy way of recycling them.

At least iPhones are made out of metal and glass, are supported for longer, and have a strong resale market.
 
If we really wanted to cut down on the amount of e-waste, a better place to start would be all the cheap plastic handphones being pumped out by the Chinese smartphone OEMs, that go on to either break down or be replaced quickly and then find their way into landfills because there isn't any easy way of recycling them.

At least iPhones are made out of metal and glass, are supported for longer, and have a strong resale market.

I'd go further and eliminate anybody who can't afford Apples prices on the basis that they are harming the environment ..
 
^^^ This is the post of the entire thread

I'll take Apple seriously on environmental issues when they start designing with upgradeability and repairability in mind.
Can you cite an example of any phone in the market that :
- is extremely repairable
- sleek looking
- supported for at least 5 years
- resistant to breakage
- has a decent ecosystem
 
When I bought my iPhone 12, I had to buy a charger because I didn't have USB-C chargers at home. Nobody did at the time. They didn't even lower the price of the iPhone or offer a charger for free. I bought one separately from the Apple Store and it was delivered in this huge box (see image below), like 20X the size of the charger and 5X bigger than the iPhone.

Very hypocritical to say it's for "Environmental reasons". It was one of their finest profit strategies.
View attachment 2052006
Is it possible they had a shortage of boxes and this was an anomaly?
 
I didn’t say that it couldn’t be charged over USB-A. My in laws switched from Android to iPhone right before Apple stopped including the power brick with the SE. They don’t have anything with USB-C so they didn’t have any USB C charging bricks. If they would have bought the iPhone after they took the brick out, they would not have been able to charge their new iPhones without an extra purchase.
Your in-laws are probably in the minority of customers and not the general case.
 
Seems like polluting the environment is only an issue when Apple does it.

I think it's because they remove things that used to be included in the (ever increasing) cost of their products and claim they are doing it for environmental reasons.

If they were just honest and said we want to squeeze out a bit of extra margin they wouldn't invite so much scrutiny.

Btw anybody who has followed suit Samsung etc deserve the same criticism.
 
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I think it's because they remove things that used to be included in the (ever increasing) cost of their products and claim they are doing it for environmental reasons.
Apple can claim it’s a net positive for the environment because it is. Not manufacturing hundreds of millions of chargers, saving the paper, saving the petroleum, squeezing more onto a pallet, etc, etc is a net positive. As far as the cost of the product it is what it is and the consumer decides on price/value.
If they were just honest and said we want to squeeze out a bit of extra margin they wouldn't invite so much scrutiny.
They are honest and scrutinize away. They aren’t changing.
Btw anybody who has followed suit Samsung etc deserve the same criticism.
Yep and they have gotten that criticism, not necessarily in the volume that apple has.
 
I think it's because they remove things that used to be included in the (ever increasing) cost of their products and claim they are doing it for environmental reasons.

If they were just honest and said we want to squeeze out a bit of extra margin they wouldn't invite so much scrutiny.

Btw anybody who has followed suit Samsung etc deserve the same criticism.
My thoughts exactly.

For example, my cousin who bought an iPhone was shocked that her charger wouldn’t work… since Apple included a Lightning to USB-C cable. I had an extra USB-C charger to give her and if I didn’t, she would have had to use her old Lightning to USB-A cable that was rather beaten up. And then her Lightning to USB-C cable will be waste.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Apple devices. But they was wrong to not include a USB-C charger, I don’t see how people think otherwise… and what people are really missing. As soon as they moved to Lightning to USB-C cable… they never tried to introduced a better charger than the 5W USB-A charger.
 
I think it's because they remove things that used to be included in the (ever increasing) cost of their products and claim they are doing it for environmental reasons.

If they were just honest and said we want to squeeze out a bit of extra margin they wouldn't invite so much scrutiny.

Btw anybody who has followed suit Samsung etc deserve the same criticism.

The reasons are not mutually exclusive, you know. Removing the charger can have both the benefit of lowering the cost of selling the iPhones (which can manifest in the iPhone not being as expensive as it could have been), as well as dramatically reducing the amount of e-waste generated in the long run.

Which is in line with Apple’s pledge of being more environmentally friendly where they can (especially when it doesn’t interfere with the design of their products). It’s not perfect, but credit where credit is due, IMO.
 
Your in-laws are probably in the minority of customers and not the general case.
Most likely but it is still a group of users inconvenienced with an extra purchase. The positive side is they really enjoy the iPhone a lot more than the Android devices they had previously.
 
My thoughts exactly.

For example, my cousin who bought an iPhone was shocked that her charger wouldn’t work… since Apple included a Lightning to USB-C cable. I had an extra USB-C charger to give her and if I didn’t, she would have had to use her old Lightning to USB-A cable that was rather beaten up. And then her Lightning to USB-C cable will be waste.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Apple devices. But they was wrong to not include a USB-C charger, I don’t see how people think otherwise… and what people are really missing. As soon as they moved to Lightning to USB-C cable… they never tried to introduced a better charger than the 5W USB-A charger.

Yep.

If it was about the environment they should've done it years ago.

The truth is their margins had been on the slide for years and there was the increased component costs associated with the 5g hardware, there is only so much you can increase the phone price to make up for it before it starts to become non competitive with other flagships so they've removed everything they possibly can from the box to make up for it.

I enjoy their products too but nobody should pretend that their speil about the environment is anything other than platitudes.
 
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