Kuo: iPhone 12 Models Won't Include Charger in Box, 20W Power Adapter Will Be Sold Separately

[CE3]

If they really don't include the charger I suspect the backlash will be huge. Think losing the headphone jack was a big deal? You ain't seen nothing yet. Selling an expensive battery powered device without the charger it needs to continue functioning is grounds for legal action, too.

 

[Lennholm]

Is this even legal in places like the EU? I guess if it’s optional but free?

I thought devices always had to include a charger to charge it? I understand having the option to remove it though - to save waste.

The EU has been at the forefront of requiring companies to make their products support standard USB for charging, specifically so they don't have to include a charging brick with every sold unit. And yes from the EU's perspective it's to minimize electronic waste.

This is fine. 3DS had no charger, still sold like hotcakes.

Chances are you already have a charger, oftentimes better than the one Apple ships in the box. Less waste is always good.

It will include the lightning cable in the box, so you can just plug it into any USB charger which most people have anyway from an old(er) phone.

The original 3DS did but not the New 3DS. The New 3DS didn't even include a cable to charge it by USB, they simply expected everyone to buy the New as a replacement for the original. That was pretty bad, but the choice to not include a brick was fine. I bought a 3rd party USB charging cable and now it's very nice to only have to bring a single charging brick with me when I travel and I can charge my 3DS, iPhone and iPad with that one charger. And that's only for the few times I can't find a USB outlet.

Is there any other electronic in the world that is sold without a ready way right out of the box to charge it? They'd get sued in a minute.

What about the countless of gadgets that won't even turn on without AA or AAA batteries but are sold without any batteries included?

It’s stupidity. Samsung includes a fast charger in the box because they aren’t stingy ******s. When you justify getting bent over, it leads to more bending over.

No, the stupidity is contributing to the massive problem of electronic waste by including a standard USB charger with every unit regardless if the customer actually needs it or not.

 

[cmaier]

I wonder how many 5W power plugs I have around the house, somewhere. I either use an 18w one, or my Samsung wireless charging stand, depending on phone.

I’ve slowly eliminated all of them. I have now three classes of brick - Apple 5w-sized ones but they are 18w or so (aureus, etc). So my minimum size is 18w. Then mid-sized chargers around the size of MBA bricks, but all around 60w. Then 100w chargers with multiple usb-c and -a ports (hyperjuice 100w gan), and single- or dual-port 87-100P chargers.

The problem I found with keeping 5w chargers around is my family are not electrical engineers and kept plugging ipad pros and macbooks into them . So now only 60 and up are actually around the house, with the the 18s kept in a bin for use when traveling.

 

[Bandaman]

If they really don't include the charger I suspect the backlash will be huge. Think losing the headphone jack was a big deal? You ain't seen nothing yet. Selling an expensive battery powered device without the charger it needs to continue functioning is grounds for legal action, too.

They should definitely be sued over this, if true.

 

[Paradoxally]

Who in the world forces you to buy a new iPhone every year?

Forgive him, he thinks everyone is rich.

 

[Haifisch]

I'm glad MR outrage does not reflect reality. People will get mad about anything because humans hate change and will rationalize anything to not change the status quo.

The tech industry doesn't care about your feelings, business moves forward as usual. You can choose to vote with your wallet and not buy Apple (or any other brand).

Looking at the big picture, iPhones will sell as usual, this is a non-issue apart from a small vocal minority (way smaller than the headphone jack outrage).

Sorry. My post wasn't clear. I'm not butt-hurt over any of this. I'm all for progress. I have no issues with dongles. One day, a laptop will have no ports and be waterproof.

 

[4jasontv]

I don't tend to use the 5W ones since I want the option of plugging my iPad into it.

This is a solid logical point. I actually use the 5W adapters for low traffic rooms, but there have been times I didn't realize what I was using and I needed to plug in my iPad. For travel I replaced my iPhone/iPad cable with the lightning to USB C cable that came with my AirPod Pros. Now I can just use my MBP or its brick to charge anything except my ***** watch.

 

[cmaier]

If they really don't include the charger I suspect the backlash will be huge. Think losing the headphone jack was a big deal? You ain't seen nothing yet. Selling an expensive battery powered device without the charger it needs to continue functioning is grounds for legal action, too.

No, that’s not grounds for legal action. That’s just silly, and an indictment of the educational system.

 

[Bandaman]

No, the stupidity is contributing to the massive problem of electronic waste by including a standard USB charger with every unit regardless if the customer actually needs it or not.

No, a phone without a charger is stupid, regardless of your rationale (which isn't rational).

 

[tkermit]

Has it already been mentioned that this would allow Apple to sell the exact same SKU in every country around the world? Sounds like something Tim Cook would love.

 

[dspdoc]

Most of us that get a new iPhone every year also sell our iPhones every year. When we sell our iPhones to offset the cost of the upgrade we provide the person buying it with the charger it came with. Therefore those of you making excuses for Apple that we all already have plenty of chargers “laying around” are patently wrong. We should be given a charger with each new phone we buy. Please stop justifying the monsters greed.

 

[itsmilo]

With Apples track record they will dare to remove the charger and EarPods while also making the phone 50€ more expensive in the EU but praising how they were able to maintain the same US $ price. Even with 5G included! Courage

 

[dhoughal]

If they really don't include the charger I suspect the backlash will be huge. Think losing the headphone jack was a big deal? You ain't seen nothing yet. Selling an expensive battery powered device without the charger it needs to continue functioning is grounds for legal action, too.

Kindle comes without a charger, too. At least in Europe. Never heard of any legal action because of it.

 

[EM2013]

Keep your useless Apple stickers & give me a charger!

 

[falainber]

iPhone 13 wont include a box.

And iPhone 14 won't include a phone.

 

[Paradoxally]

Sorry. My post wasn't clear. I'm not butt-hurt over any of this. I'm all for progress. I have no issues with dongles. One day, a laptop will have no ports and be waterproof.

My comment was in agreement with yours, and against all the people who are outraged even though they likely have many iphone chargers still in their original box.

 

[sonicrobby]

Not sure how I feel about this yet... will the charging block and headphones really offset the cost of the 5G? It’s good that a lot of us now have a collection of charging blocks, but this could be the gateway for removing the charge port from future iPhones in favor of wireless charging?

 

[4jasontv]

iPhone 13 wont include a box.

That would be optimal right? It's a cost for Apple and waste for us. I realize you are just raging here, for some reason, but it doesn't change that it would a good idea in theory.

 

[wallysb01]

This makes perfect sense. It's kind of surprising it hasn't been done earlier. These days, USB ports are as common as standard household sockets. In fact, for most households, there are more USB ports than standard sockets, from power bricks to computers, to speakers, to TVs.

This will only be a slight inconvenience for anyone who is buying a smartphone for the first time and doesn't have a computer laying around. Everyone else has a dozen power bricks from previous phones, cluttered up at the bottom of junk drawers.

most houses have more USB ports in their walls than standard outlets? What? You only visityour like minded friends in trendy new condos or something? The average age of a house is 36.

And here’s the fun part for everyone putting those combo light switch or power outlet sockets with USB-As on them, the cables are all switching to USB-C... fun! Time to spend another few hundred bucks and a afternoon swapping those out!

In a few key locations I’d go to the trouble, but in enough locations to outnumber your standard socket? HAHA, people in 10 years are going to look around your house and laugh. It would be like having cd drives stuck in your walls....

 

[Zen_Arcade]

I wonder how much Apple will reduce the retail price for not including a charger and earbuds.

Oh, wait - provide less, charge more! This is Apple, after all.

Courage!

 

[blairh]

5G costs

You are saying definitively that if they continue to include the charger they have to raise the price of the phone? If so, what are you basing this on?

 

[cmaier]

most houses have more USB ports in their walls than standard outlets? What? You only visityour like minded friends in trendy new condos or something? The average age of a house is 36.

And here’s the fun part for everyone putting those combo light switch or power outlet sockets with USB-As on them, the cables are all switching to USB-C... fun! Time to spend another few hundred bucks and a afternoon swapping those out!

In a few key locations I’d go to the trouble, but in enough locations to outnumber your standard socket? HAHA, people in 10 years are going to look around your house and laugh. It would be like having cd drives stuck in your walls....

When I replaced a couple of outlets I made sure they had both -a and -c ports

 

[meridias]

I have read numerous responses to this story that attributes this change to greed. I'd like to put forward a different motivation... I believe the more likely reason for this change (should this rumor turn out to be true) is so that they (Apple) can reduce the price of the iPhone. As many of you have stated, many buyers of new iPhones already possess chargers and headphones. For those buyers, why pay for another set that you aren't going to use? If Apple reduces the price of the iPhone by, let's say, $50 then the buyers that don't need those components won't be required to pay for them. Those buyers that need those components will be able to purchase them separately (albeit likely at a cumulative expense greater than the reduction in the price of the phone alone). Given that most (more than 50%) of iPhones are sold to consumers that are upgrading from a prior version of the iPhone, this strategy seems logical. Thoughts?

 

[Paradoxally]

most houses have more USB ports in their walls than standard outlets? What? You only visityour like minded friends in trendy new condos or something? The average age of a house is 36.

And here’s the fun part for everyone putting those combo light switch or power outlet sockets with USB-As on them, the cables are all switching to USB-C... fun! Time to spend another few hundred bucks and a afternoon swapping those out!

In a few key locations I’d go to the trouble, but in enough locations to outnumber your standard socket? HAHA, people in 10 years are going to look around your house and laugh. It would be like having cd drives stuck in your walls....

I have to agree, the USB standard is so fickle that USB A is slowly losing popularity and who knows what other standards we will get in the future. Meanwhile power sockets haven't changed in decades.

 

[robjulo]

The cables are fairly fragile and don’t last much more than a year or two......and if you don’t know why it’s a big deal on your own, nothing anyone says is going to change your mind. It’s greed, pure and simple.

Lol over a Damn charger? Why is this a big deal? Just so we can stockpile chargers in our houses? I have enough Damn cables as it is