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Apple Removes 5W Power Adapter From Apple Watch Edition and Apple Watch Hermès
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Part of the rational for not including a power adapter is reducing costs for the iPhone 12 and keeping costs consistent with the prior years.
Then we are in agreement.
I was saying the same thing, just a different way:
I’m not sure we agree through this dance of what apples’ agenda REALLY is.
Keeping costs inline with last year is not about margin for Apple...for they could very easily raise the price and include a power brick. Keep costs constant and not including a charger has an impact In the environment.
Win-win.
Just like they could very easily lower the price and not include a power brick. Lowing the price for consumers and not include a charger could just as easily have the same environmental impact.
Win-win.
Apple’s hardware margins have been falling in recent years.
I mean, if you want to go down this slippery slope, Apple could do what you suggested, and then someone else would just chime in that Apple could easily afford to further lower the price by another few percentage points, all the way till the watch is sold at break even point.
Where does it stop?
At the end of the day, I see this as a win-win scenario for all parties involved. Not including a power brick allows for a smaller and lighter package, which means Apple is able to ship more units at one go, which in turn goes towards reducing the amount of waste and pollution produced.
The cost savings from using lesser packaging, not including the power brick and lower shipping costs go towards offsetting what may otherwise have been a higher price for the Apple Watch (and very likely, this year’s iphone). I don’t need any more 5w charging bricks either, and the smaller packaging takes up less space on my shelf.
Better for Apple, better for the environment, better for me. Everyone’s interests are aligned. Maybe not as much as you would like, but I will take it.
It is doing something self-serving and saying that it is for the sake of the environment.
A similar situation would be Charmin announcing that every TP roll they sell will be 10 feet shorter to reduce the amount of packaging because of environmental concerns. All while charging the same amount to the customer. (true example, but not given the excuse of environmental concerns)
I completely agree, and think it is the real reason for the missing power adapters, except the same could be said about lower profit margins instead of higher prices.
Common knowledge in business that higher prices are a lot harder to sell than getting less for the same price. I already mentioned toilet paper.
If in the US, just look at the food industry. The cost of certain candy bar brands has barely changed in the past 30 years, but the size of candy bars have gotten smaller.
The price of a "standard" package of sugar has barely changed, but the standard size when from 5 lbs to 4lbs.
So, Apple is now charging the same amount that they have been charging for an AW, just it include less stuff that it used to.
BTW, I am not knocking Apple for not including the power adapters in the AW. I just don't think it was for environmental concerns. If they wanted to to be selfless when it comes to their environmental concerns, there are plenty of other places to start.
Its not $19 per device though is it. The vast majority aren’t going to buy one because we’ve got draws full of the things already and they don’t save $19 by not including as it more than likely only costs Apple pennies to produce.
Your device isn’t cheaper because they decide their prices on price points and what they think people will pay rather than what it costs them plus a set amount.
Raising the price and including a power brick is a lose for consumers and a lose for the environment. Especially if they were to include a 5w brick with some of the models, is the point.
However, I believe the plan is to keep the price the same. Keeping the price the same and not including a power brick is a win for consumers and a win for the environment. Apple has no intention of lowering the price relative to the year before with all the new tech in the phones.
My opinion is apple did its homework with this and didn’t put a wet finger in the air or see how the tea leaves shook out.
Except, you know, they didn't actually drop the price when they removed the charger.
Of course not, but that's not what Apple charges for those stupid cubes. Maybe try reading the post I'm responding to. He's acting like the previous situation was that we were all eating the retail cost of charger whether we wanted to or not.
Companies that bundle products/services typically offer a different rate than when purchased after the fact. Here are two examples:
- Apple One bundle
- Telsa auto-pilot bundle
Based on that, I wouldn't expect Apple to deduct the retail price of a 5w charger for not including it in the box. What should Apple do, can be debated...which is why I made the comment they wouldn't deduct $.50 or $1.
It’s going to be funny watching all the other OEMs hopping on the bandwagon after Apple does this with the iPhone and the internet drama that ensues.
Sure, but the relevant factor isn't retail price, it's cost-to-produce.
Which, if you take five minutes to look through Alibaba, appears to be 50 cents or less per unit in volume.
Up to you if you want to have your panties in a wad over Apple cutting costs by 50 cents and not passing that huge savings along, but the hullabaloo over this seems pretty silly. The seemingly small # of people who truly have no other USB-A power sources can solve their problem easily and quickly with a stop at their closest convenience/grocery/department/drug-store. Or even order an OEM 5W brick from ebay for ~$5 delivered.
There's already a bunch of stuff that ships without 5W bricks. Aftershokz headphones, Qi charging pads/stands, USB powerbanks, etc. are some of my recent purchases that shipped without a brick, but all require a 5W USB source.
EDIT - not really sure how someone can disagree with a statement of fact. The listed items ship without bricks.
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I don't think anyone is expecting a cheap Xiaomi power bank or Anker wireless charger to come with a charging brick, nor would they have any reason to complain given the price.
We are looking at smartphones costing several hundreds of dollars, so the expectation is naturally more as well but with Apple paving the way, one can argue that Apple's contribution to the environment goes beyond their own products. When you consider that many smartphone OEMs may use this as justification for them not shipping charging bricks of their own, that's a lot e-waste and transportation costs saved this way.
Only if you're someone who has absolutely no other USB-A power sources anywhere in your posession.
Watches still come with the charging puck, just not the 5W USB brick that many (if not most) people have extras of laying around.
My point was not much about cost as being about 5W USB-A sources being so commonly available that an increasing number of manufacturers are finding they needn't include yet another Drawer Denizen to the existing overpopulation at folks houses.
Higher priced items such as my $150 Aftershocks headphones don't include a brick - nor apparently does the new Gopro Hero 9. Nor apparently does the $600 to $1100 Garmin Fenix 6 watch if the In-The-Box is correct.
Lots of other examples out there. While some folks have issue with this, I personally applaud it. I already use multiport adapters at my typical charge-points in the house, and so far they've spanned multiple generations of devices. Having owned a 12" Macbook for three or four years, a couple of those already have a USBC PD port, so I'm good for a few more years at least. 5W single port bricks are completely useless to me. And to many others judging by others comments.
One could perhaps draw a parallel here with Apple's move to discontinue internal optical drives some years back. To listen to the Chicken Littles we were on the verge of global catastrophe. Yet today few laptops have optical drives.
Yes, if a high $$ device requires a special adapter (watch puck) or a less than ubiquitous power source (18W USBC or higher), then it should come with such at this time. Or be very explicit that it does not.
If Apple gave the choice of having a free charger or not, perhaps you would have a point. But now we don't get the choice of bundling and just have to pay an extra $30. It's just greed. They could easily charge $5 and still make a very healthy profit.
Again, read the post I responded to instead of ignoring it and cutting out the portion of my post that explains that. That individual is acting like we were all eating that $30 when apple included the charger. We weren't. The price didn't drop a cent, so we are all objectively getting less for our money.
Also let's not pretend the chargers on Alibaba are the same as what Apple sold. One is far more likely to catch on fire than the other.
[QUOTE="terraphantm, post: 28976407, member: 333658"Again, read the post I responded to instead of ignoring it and cutting out the portion of my post that explains that. That individual is acting like we were all eating that $30 when apple included the charger. We weren't. The price didn't drop a cent, so we are all objectively getting less for our money.[/quote]
Dunno why you might think I hadn't read the post. I didn't think Nightfox was referencing the retail price of the charger. Thus that part of your comment didn't need to be included.
As for "getting less for our money" I guess you missed the Keynote? There's a number incremental upgrades from the S5 to the S6, as well as the ongoing watchOS software development. For the same retail price as the S5 was (less, actually when you consider the Consumer Price Index), I get new and additional feature -- and I find it a benefit to not stick yet another useless to me 5W single port brick in the drawer with the others.
Never said they were. They are, however, the best guideline we have as to what Apple's cost might be for their own OEM chargers. If an alibaba manuf can sell 10k units at a profit for 60 cents each, do you really think Apple's parts cost is substantially different on a 1MM production scale?
Dunno why you might think I hadn't read the post. I didn't think Nightfox was referencing the retail price of the charger. Thus that part of your comment didn't need to be included.
As for "getting less for our money" I guess you missed the Keynote? There's a number incremental upgrades from the S5 to the S6, as well as the ongoing watchOS software development. For the same retail price as the S5 was (less, actually when you consider the Consumer Price Index), I get new and additional feature -- and I find it a benefit to not stick yet another useless to me 5W single port brick in the drawer with the others.
Never said they were. They are, however, the best guideline we have as to what Apple's cost might be for their own OEM chargers. If an alibaba manuf can sell 10k units at a profit for 60 cents each, do you really think Apple's parts cost is substantially different on a 1MM production scale?
What you won't be getting, hopefully, are price increases. As I said previously, this most likely will cut down on e-waste. It will reduce the cost; manufacturing cost of the charger plus reduced packaging. Reduce the shipment fees with smaller, lighter boxes.
There are going to be some who are inconvenienced. But Apple has done it's homework and is doing this for the greater good. (if the rumors are true)