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Billions since 2019: Omitting chargers is very beneficial for Apple

NextPit Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max Camera Module
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Is Apple's exclusion of chargers, which started with the iPhone 12, greenwashing or not? This discussion is now taking an interesting twist. Analysts have calculated how much money the company earned by cutting the included accessories, the resulting smaller packaging, and the sale of chargers as an extra.


TL;DR:

  • Analysts from CSS Insight assume that Apple earned 6.5 billion US dollars by omitting accessories.
  • The period under consideration starts from the iPhone 12, at the end of 2019.
  • The analysis also calculates higher costs for iPhones as well as wired headphones.

The fact that Apple shipped its iPhone 12 without a power adapter caused harsh criticism on the web at the time. In the meantime, it has become normal for premium phones to be shipped in tiny boxes without a USB-C charger.

The narrative of all manufacturers is that this is better for the environment since most people already have a charger at home anyway. However, according to the Daily Mail, CSS Insight's analysis confirms a suspicion that has resonated since 2019.

Apple has made a considerable profit from this and earned a total of $6.5 billion by dropping the included accessories. As Daily Mail writes, this sum results from the saved costs for chargers and headphones, the additional sales to customers who lack a charger, and the reduced costs for smaller packaging, including the more efficient logistics.

Apple says over 2 million tons of Co2 emissions saved.

Overall, Apple's decision to ditch the usual iPhone accessories would have saved over 2 million tons of CO2 emissions, as an Apple spokesperson was quoted saying by the Daily Mail. This would be the equivalent of taking 500,000 cars off the road each year, he said. However, it is still unclear exactly how many tons of electronic waste Apple will save.

NextPit Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max Camera
The iPhone 13 Pro Max also comes without a power supply! / © NextPit

What is intriguing, however, is that Apple basically caused the need for more chargers by itself, before omitting them from device packages. Before the iPhone 12, only 5-watt chargers were always included, with which users could not use the maximum charging power for their smartphone. Thus, buying another charger was already necessary before the end of 2019.

What do you think? Are you convinced by Apple's environmental measures, or would you rather have powerful chargers included? And do you think that this issue will eventually come to an end?

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Benjamin Lucks

Benjamin Lucks
Product Reviewer

Benjamin works as a freelance journalist and is always on the lookout for special features that make new cell phones, headphones and gadgets interesting for the reader. If he doesn't succeed, he comforts himself by writing short stories and using his digital camera.

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  • 49
    storm Mar 19, 2022 Link to comment

    Any charger shipped with a product today should be a multiport PD charger, at least 4 ports. And it would be good if the cable(s) exceeded the specs and the power controller was flashable so you could update it to newer standards. Yes, the power supplied wouldn't be any stronger, but the compatibility for managing newer battery technologies, even on older specced hardware would be worth it.

    Plan for the future in your products. Make them greener, longer lasting and upgradeable.

    Zois Bekios Zannikos