Samsung and Xiaomi Plan to Ship Upcoming Smartphones Without Charger After Mocking Apple Over Same Move

[ian87w]

So Samsung gets a pass because in the past they shipped fast chargers with their phones?

No they don't. Just providing a different perspective on the aftermath of unbundling the charger. The argument of "people already have plenty of chargers" is more palatable in Samsung's case than Apple's.

Nontheless, if you actually read my various posts in the past, I dislike this trend of unbundling necessary accessories.

 

[ian87w]

Pretty sure if Apple cut full software support from 5 years to 2 years, Apple could easily include 3 fast chargers with every iPhone for the past 5 years.

I believe Apple still have a significant margin than Samsung Mobile ever had.

 

[George Dawes]

Words fail me

 

[PickUrPoison]

Just another fast follower, good for them?

Only Apple has the courage to be the leader. The others are too scared, their best move is hiding behind Apple for cover.

 

[FightTheFuture]

Apple should make an add for every time they created something or did something new only for it to be poorly copied by someone else.

Apple wouldn’t mention a competitor in their ads these days. Coke doesn’t mention Pepsi.

 

[ian87w]

Apple should make an add for every time they created something or did something new only for it to be poorly copied by someone else.

Apple is way above and in a much healthier financial situation today than any of the competitors, despite what the netizens are claiming. The old Apple was making funny jabs at the competitors (intel, Microsoft, then PC in general) because they were the underdog. If Apple made those kinds of ads today, they will be seen in a negative manner since they are no longer the underdog.

 

[SactoGuy18]

I would HIGHLY recommend you get a separate USB-C PD 3.0 charger that can charge up to 29 W if you're getting the next generation Samsung Galaxy phones. You might be a bit disappointed if you try to use a Anker Nano or Aukey Omnia USB-C charger, which is only rated at 20 W.

 

[31 Flavas]

Charger Apple used to include with iPhone was pretty cheap I am sure, and I don't think this "no charger" move is getting them tons of new revenue. I appreciate the move to create a more environmentally friendly business, and it's unfortunate that companies like Samsung are a couple decades behind when it comes to corporate responsibility.

Not only is Samsung dropping the in-box charger. But they're dropping an in-box fast charger. (But, instead, Apple is the true villain here.)

What I don't get is that, we know Samsung won't let a good opportunity to roast / troll Apple pass by. I mean, double dongles and charger tweets alike. So why would they pass on the obvious opportunity to point out how courageously they are stand-up for and listening consumers that have spoken out against Apple.

 

[dannyyankou]

I don’t agree with these moves at all, but it was kinda a genius move by Apple business wise. Don’t ship an adapter in the box, make other companies look like jerks for not “caring about the environment”, then make them look like hypocrites when they finally follow suit.

 

[farewelwilliams]

I believe Apple still have a significant margin than Samsung Mobile ever had.

Samsung's last quarter margin: 40.31% https://ycharts.com/companies/SSNGY/gross_profit_margin
Apple's margin: 38.16% https://ycharts.com/companies/AAPL/gross_profit_margin

Whatever low margins the Galaxy phones have are offset by the rest of Samsung's business. Asking Apple to take less margins on iPhones (Apple's #1 earner) is like asking Starbucks to lower the margins of their beverages to match McDonald's coffee margins.

 

[ian87w]

Samsung's last quarter margin: 40.31% https://ycharts.com/companies/SSNGY/gross_profit_margin
Apple's margin: 38.16% https://ycharts.com/companies/AAPL/gross_profit_margin

Whatever low margins the Galaxy phones have are offset by the rest of Samsung's business. Asking Apple to take less margins on iPhones (Apple's #1 earner) is like asking Starbucks to lower the margins of their beverages to match McDonald's coffee margins.

I did mention Samsung Mobile specifically. It doesn't matter what other parts of Samsung is doing.

 

[ian87w]

I don’t agree with these moves at all, but it was kinda a genius move by Apple business wise. Don’t ship an adapter in the box, make other companies look like jerks for not “caring about the environment”, then make them look like hypocrites when they finally follow suit.

Yup. And look at all the fanboys so happy paying more for less. Apple is a marketing genius.

Xiaomi following suit is a poor move imo. I mean outside China, if you are going to spend $800-$1000, nobody will want to spend it on a Xiaomi. It will be made worse when that premium price gives you even less stuff. I mean Xiaomi's brand doesn't carry as much value as Samsung/Apple yet. And it will be even worse when one looks at their value offerings like the Redmi lineup having chargers included. Xiaomi is the underdog. They should be over-delivering each time, not cutting corners on stuff like the chargers.

Then again, maybe Xiaomi knows this and they probably think the negative effect is worth the cost being cut.

 

[farewelwilliams]

I did mention Samsung Mobile specifically. It doesn't matter what other parts of Samsung is doing.

Yes I saw that and which is why I made the analogy: asking Apple to match Samsung Mobile's profit margins is like asking Starbucks to lower their beverage margins to match McDonald's coffee margins.

 

[helloplebies]

Well at least they removed it and didn't stick to their PR message for being afraid of being called a hypocrite. Charger should be removed from all phones and people should buy it separately. Good on them for removing it despite the incoming bashing by the community.

No one needs to start a large charging brick collection because they upgrade often. No one.

There shouldn’t be a charger in the box BUT you should have the option of receiving one for free with your £999 phone if you so wish

 

[duanepatrick]

They did manage to sniff the money out of removing the charger.

Would they also say that it is for the environment???

 

[farewelwilliams]

There shouldn’t be a charger in the box BUT you should have the option of receiving one for free with your £999 phone if you so wish

if given the option, most customers would simply check "give me one" since it's free. assuming that they don't pack it inside the iPhone 12 box and instead throw in the fully boxed charger, that would probably cost Apple more than just including it in the box for everyone as well as a bigger cost to the environment.

 

[Serban55]

At least Google learned from its own mistake and didnt mock Apple after that
But Samsung is the definition of the hypocrisy
Dont expect to end here....next year....after iphone will go port-less....will be the same thing

 

[DeepIn2U]

Every manufacturer who follows Apple's lead by leaving out the charger are doing so because they realize the cost savings and additional sales potential.

I have to argue against this thought.

Key ... Nokia for over a decade was not only THE largest seller of phones globally - they still sold THE most phones ever I believe (feature/smart phones inclusive, globally) and they also had THE most chargers and batteries for sale across the globe along with it.

Not including charger in the box is a minor cost savings per unit, decent amount saved in 10’s of million globally. Now, with so many other dedicated third party charger sellers Anker etc of GaN chargers ... I really don’t think more sales of non-included chargers will fly off the shelves/inventory of Apple, Samsung, or Xiaomi to be honest.

 

[Psychicbob]

why forget about the argument? Is it because it doesn’t suit your narrative?

I didn’t believe the decision that Apple made to get rid of chargers from their iPhones was ever about the environment. I just meant that it was a separate argument.

 

[ian87w]

Yes I saw that and which is why I made the analogy: asking Apple to match Samsung Mobile's profit margins is like asking Starbucks to lower their beverage margins to match McDonald's coffee margins.

Do you think simply including chargers will affect Apple’s margins that severely? If that’s the case, then Apple’s business model is severely broken and Tim Cook should be fired.

 

[C DM]

if given the option, most customers would simply check "give me one" since it's free. assuming that they don't pack it inside the iPhone 12 box and instead throw in the fully boxed charger, that would probably cost Apple more than just including it in the box for everyone as well as a bigger cost to the environment.

It's interesting how different people in all the different threads about it all when Apple initially announced their change were saying how they were happy about it because they had so many power adapters and wouldn't want more as they would end up just throwing them in some drawer. And that most people were basically in similar situations and should have similar feelings. Interesting how assumptions work.

 

[farewelwilliams]

Do you think simply including chargers will affect Apple’s margins that severely? If that’s the case, then Apple’s business model is severely broken and Tim Cook should be fired.

Do the math:

Let's say bill of materials for the charger is about $4-$5 (http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html).
Then, we know that the charger takes up substantial space in the packaging (removing the charger allows for 70% more iPhones to be transported at one time and stored as inventory).
Throw in the the EarPods on top of shipping/inventory costs, that's probably another $2 cost per iPhone. That easily pushes the costs over $7 or over 1% of a 64GB iPhone mini's price tag.

Considering Apple sold about 200 million iPhones in 2018. 200 mil x $7 (for charger+shipping+inventory+EarPods costs) is about $1.4 billion. Put it in perspective: net profit for Apple was about $55 billion last year (from statista.com), so that's about 2.5% of Apple's net profit. Again, that's purely for the sake of putting it in perspective, not suggesting anything else otherwise.

If you think 2.5% is nothing, well, then you should be fine paying an extra 2.5% for a charger then which equates to about a $715 price tag for the iPhone mini 64GB which is only slightly less than just buying the $19 charger separately.

 

[farewelwilliams]

It's interesting how different people in all the different threads about it all when Apple initially announced their change were saying how they were happy about it because they had so many power adapters and wouldn't want more as they would end up just throwing them in some drawer. And that most people were basically in similar situations and should have similar feelings. Interesting how assumptions work.

Interesting that you can't seem to tell the difference between need and want.

Let me highlight from my first post in this thread:
"No one needs to start a large charging brick collection because they upgrade often. No one."

People don't need 20 charging bricks. But people want free stuff.
See the difference? If not, well...I can't help you there.

And your assumption has flaws too, I mean why should *your* personal experience of seeing "different people" in "different threads" represent *my* view of "most people"? That's stupid way of sampling the population which you're basing your generalizations on.

Anyways, it's clear you've made up your mind about how you feel about this and there's no way to convince you otherwise. I don't see any point with discussing this topic with you any longer. Have a good one.

Very interesting indeed...🤣

 

[dazzer21-2]

They really should know better by now. Then next one will be Apple having foregone the sensuous packaging to start selling iPhones stuffed in Manilla envelopes, MacBook Air-reveal style. Samsung will follow suit within 3 months (after the over-egged ridicule). Watch this space.

 

[Matthew.H]

Let me highlight from my first post in this thread:
"No one needs to start a large charging brick collection because they upgrade often. No one."

People don't need 20 charging bricks. But people want free stuff.
See the difference? If not, well...I can't help you there.

Whilst it's true that people don't need 20 charging bricks, I would be surprised if the average consumer has that many. Most members on here are not the average consumer.

Also the average consumer isn't likely to upgrade yearly given the cost of these phones. They'll have the phone on a 2 - 3 year contract and upgrade at the end of the contract.

Of course I can only speak for myself and people around me but none of us have a drawer full of spare chargers. In our household we have one charger for each device and when that device gets sold on the charger goes with it.

Not including a charger with a £1000+ product doesn't come across as customer friendly no matter how you spin it.
Offering an adaptor for free of course would result in people opting for one when they don't need it. Offering the charger at a discount with the purchase of the phone would have been the better approach rather than telling people to use their old one or pay full price for a new charger.