Apple Survey Asks iPhone Users What They Do With Old Power Adapters

[I7guy]

Leaving the charger out of the box and providing a 1 one time voucher for a no cost charger would be nice.

Apple has to do something for first time buyers though. I don't see a very Apple like experience if a (decent) charger is not included at the time of purchase...somehow. Headphones/headsets are another matter. I see them as commonplace so I don't think it makes much of a difference if they are dropped from the box at time of purchase.

 

[Haziza]

Pay premium price for a phone and 49$ for a charger. How greedy can a company get?
As a user coming from iPhone 7 I can’t see my self paying extra for a charger!

 

[Chinch07]

Perhaps you live in the Surrey stockbroker belt. How big does one's apartment or house have to be so it is too onerous to go to another room to get the charger? Not a great look to have chargers lying around various rooms for convenience. How many times a day are you charging your phone?

I have a healthy mix of wired and wireless charges in every room of my house. Everyone I know does the same. Maybe you need more chargers? (From NY)

 

[Benjamins]

Is this a joke? Lightning cables break after a while. Many of them goes in the trash.

 

[Brandhouse]

Where's the link to this survey?

 

[drulandian]

Most people, in my experience, use their current cable until they can't and never touch the one in the box. They literally end up throwing them in the trash. That is tons of waste for no reason. I would not mind them stopping, to be honest. Besides, I think they are only looking at the cubes (USB power adapter) and not the cable. I feel like I could lift my couch or go to the back of my junk drawer and find one. lol

 

[MrKennedy]

Where's the link to this survey?

The first line in the articles states that Apple is surveying recent iPhone buyers.

Probably sent to them via email?

 

[kaielement]

And if they ship it with a USB-C to Lightning cable, you couldn't use it with your third-party adapters because they all have built-in cables that cannot be removed?

One of the best trends in charging has been the separation of charging brick and charging cable (coupled of course with using a standard port on the charger) which has enabled lots of gadgets to ship with a charging cable only (fitness trackers, Bluetooth headphones, etc.). Heck Airpods and other Apple/Beats headphones ship without a charging brick. Even the Apple Watch doesn't come with a charging brick anymore.

Apple Watch series 5 comes with 5w brick. Series 3 no brick.
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The older iPhone chargers are too slow and underpowered to charge modern devices. They know this damn well. They should be providing the latest and most powered chargers with every new device. Tim is a cheapskate! Jobs put everything needed for the device IN THE BOX.

You know the iPhone 11 pro comes with an 18w charger that uses PD. Just saying

 

[Expos of 1969]

I have a healthy mix of wired and wireless charges in every room of my house. Everyone I know does the same. Maybe you need more chargers? (From NY)

Nope. If I am using my phone in the living room and feel it needs charging, I have no problem getting up, walking to my home office where I keep the phone charger and either charging it there or carrying (it is possible) the charger back to the living room. This whole "seemingly onerous procedure to some folks" takes no more than 90 seconds and is good for my body. You stick with your lazy routine and I will stick with mine

 

[Maetzle]

Stop being so Apple! We've gotten 5W adapters for years and years and years when even cheap Android phones came with a higher watt adapters for fast-charging. We have Lighting connectors which are annoying when everyone else switched to USB C.

And now no adapter (which start at 25€ for 5W USB A, 35€ for 18W USB C) and no headphones (35€) - will the phones be 60€+ cheaper? Probably not. Maybe it buys us a year without a price hike again.

Additionally: Sure, many people have USB adapters from various devices at home already - but if it actually comes with a USB C to lightning cable... how many people actually have a USB C adapter at home?

 

[UnusedLoginID]

Brazil is the worst country to ask these kinds of questions. The 5W adapter costs a Brazilian about 1/5 of an average monthly salary which in equivalent US salary average is about $900! Basically they are being sold and resold - either with the phone/iPad - or separately. I would guess the answers will be that the power adapters are still in use and that shipping an iPhone without it would be unacceptable!
Now, if Brazil says its ok, then it will be a no-brainer for Apple!
Personally, I usually include the power adapter when I resell my phones. As to getting a new phone without a power adapter, I would not have minded too much until this year because of the number of devices we have in the house. We have two iPhones - none 11 Pro/Max - and two iPads - none with USB-C - and we charge them on the two 12W iPad power adapters in the house. I never use the 5W blocks so these are kind of useless except for the resale value. I also have an Anker power pack with 2 USB fast charging ports which I use for fast charging.
But now with faster-charging and USB-C, then I would be in trouble because I have no USB-C power adapter, except for the USB-C port on my new MacBook Air. So, now I would definitely mind not getting a power adapter.

 

[ds2000]

I, and I assume most people, sell it with their old phone, therefore we need a new one with whatever phone we upgrade to. Stop being cheap and continue to include the adapter.

I do too but, I have a charge mat for overnight, a charge mat in my tesla and a usb backup cable in my headphone case if I'm at work. I probably wouldn't care if they dumped the charger and headphones... but I understand why many would want it still.

 

[0924487]

I'm in the camp to do away with the charger because it's good for the environment and Earth.

but then it should be free upon request for whoever wants it.

 

[ericwn]

Interesting that "I throw it away" isn't on the list. I guess they like to pretend that people only ever recycle things.

Or they just picked what sounded like the most likely options (from the author’s perspective) for higher end products like theirs without any focus on an imaginary pretend agenda.

 

[ericwn]

but then it should be free upon request for whoever wants it.

Sure everything accessory should be free if in it from Apple. Just say the word. Totally how capitalism works.

I also want the hardcover of the current product catalogue and a free CD with drivers and iTunes included.

 

[dkh587]

Personally, I don’t use mine. I have a 12W charging block I bought from 🍎 when I got the iPhone 6. It still works for me - the 5w block is way too slow.

 

[kuito]

Apple should have always included a fast charging adapter with their flagship phone. The fact they squeeze people for more money is just crap.

 

[I7guy]

Apple should have always included a fast charging adapter with their flagship phone. The fact they squeeze people for more money is just crap.

How does Apple squeeze people for more money?

 

[anson42]

I find this question from Apple to be rather silly unless there is a large # of people who take their new phone out of the case and never touch the power adapter/cord, which I'd find AMAZING if even 1 out of 20 owners did that.

Probably not a large number but I'm one. It's only with the iPhone 11 Pro with the 18W charger and USB-C cable that I finally took the charger and cable out of the box. The many phones before that I either used an early 5W adapter or power from a USB port and/or wireless charger. I think those of us in the iPhone upgrade program, not a huge number to be fair, are in the same boat as we don't sell our phones, we give them back to Apple and keep the original box, cable and charger.

I'll echo my own sentiment I made earlier and that of others: create an iPhone bundle. Assuming there was no price hike planned for the upcoming model (a big assumption), price the bundle at the full price. An iPhone only option should be cheaper accordingly. I personally don't want a new charger nor air buds nor a new cable. Just give me the phone.

 

[Azzin]

Pay premium price for a phone and 49$ for a charger. How greedy can a company get?
As a user coming from iPhone 7 I can’t see my self paying extra for a charger!

The beauty of democracy.
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Is this a joke? Lightning cables break after a while. Many of them goes in the trash.

Mine never have.
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Stop being so Apple! We've gotten 5W adapters for years and years and years when even cheap Android phones came with a higher watt adapters for fast-charging. We have Lighting connectors which are annoying when everyone else switched to USB C.

And we‘re all still here and the world is still spinning.

Additionally: Sure, many people have USB adapters from various devices at home already - but if it actually comes with a USB C to lightning cable... how many people actually have a USB C adapter at home?

I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
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But now with faster-charging and USB-C, then I would be in trouble because I have no USB-C power adapter,

Oh no.

except for the USB-C port on my new MacBook Air.

*Phew*

*Wipes brow feverishly*

So, now I would definitely mind not getting a power adapter.

Another charger you mean?

in all seriousness, I only playing with you (kinda). ✌
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Maybe they’ll find a way of offering upgrades a quick and easy non charger option?

I‘m on the IUP and would be happy not to get a charger in the box, to help the planet.

 

[Neepman]

The new power adapter will be 49 dollars. Mark my words. And expect no cable in the box either.

 

[unsynaps]

I don't think I have removed it from the box it came in the last few times I got a new phone. Already have a bunch laying around, then I was just charging off PC/Laptop. Now wireless charging. So if Apple takes it out of the box oh well.

Oh yeah on the Apple upgrade program now. They only ask for the phone itself back. So collecting them that way too.

 

[Iconoclysm]

Very US centric comment. iPhone upgrade program is not universal like most Apple programs.

Yes, and?
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I'm not in that program.

Do you not have a usb port that outputs 2 amps anywhere?
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Yea, smug is the wrong word. It is a blatant smoke screen to cover the ongoing greed of Apple. All their nonsense about recyclable aluminium and so on. Sure it helps bit but they continue to operate in a way that forces people to dispose of items which could be repaired if Apple had built them differently.

Ongoing greed? This is a cost savings that also has many other benefits and other companies are doing it too. Greed is also the wrong word.

 

[tennisproha]

No thanks. The cheap chargers and earphones have no value for me and I’m sure I’m not the only one for whom this is just waste.

Cheap chargers lol? You mean the non-Apple ones to that routinely catch on fire and injure or kill people?

 

[iBreatheApple]

I’d rather they spend what they save by not including the charger and headphones, improving some other part of the phone. People here are getting outraged over +/- $10 or so, on a $1,000 phone.

if it gets to September and we hear, “we left out the charger and the headphones, and lowered the price by $20, and there’s this other feature that would have been really cool, but we left it out to save you that $20”, that would be annoying. I’d rather have the very best phone they can build for that price point, I don’t need still yet more charging bricks and earpods to leave unused in the original box.

But every release has offered new features. This is not at all for a customer benefit. Increase profit margins and I’m assuming there will be a marketing tactic involving “saving the planet” type thing by not including them. Less packaging. Less waste. Etc etc. They aren’t removing it to give you more features, I’m pretty confident.