About a week ago, rumours surfaced that Apple would be forgoing the charger when it came to what comes in the box with their upcoming iPhone 12 series. The move comes in a supposed effort that would allow the company to be greener while keeping rising 5G production costs down. Analysts Ming-Chi Kuo and Barclays expect that this may be a move to USB-C charging. The solution for Apple’s lack of charger is to release a new optional accessory: the 20W charger.
As befuddling as that rumour is, it seems like companies with Android based devices are looking to follow the same trend. According to a report published by ET News, Samsung maybe the first manufacturer to make the move in the Android space with devices expected to ship without the charger as soon as next year.The reasoning behind the move is apparently the same as Apple with the report citing increasing costs of manufacturing 5G devices as one of the major reasons Samsung is following suit.
However, it seems like one of the rationales behind the move is also the abundance of chargers consumers have inadvertently collected over the past decade. To be honest, how many of us actually still charge our phones with the in box charger? Many of us have opted to use certified third party ones or are still using some of our older chargers which still work. In fact, some of us have actually given their environmental argument some validity by throwing away our old chargers every time we get a new device.
The biggest benefit that seems to be coming from this move is a plausible price drop particularly when it comes to mid and lower end devices. That said, it still remains to be seen how the omission will affect the overall pricing of phones. Keep in mind, the charger is one of the simplest items in the box comparatively. So, the real effect of this omission could be negligible especially in higher end devices.
