A lot will criticize Apple for doing this claiming they are cutting cost (which they are) but I keep finding earbuds and chargers from many of my old devices as I pack my house for moving. I am sure a lot of these accessories end up in the garbage without being used a single time.
Good. Their environmentally-friendly kind of marketing is
hilariously questionable as they're countering it at the same
time with their anti-repair efforts, but I agree with this step
and don't know why some people are against it. The charging
cables and earbuds included with phones have always been
garbage-tier quality and everyone who buys such an expensive
phone already has one for each bag.
Just imagine if they used a standard connector on the phone...<p>They could also eliminate the USB to Lightning cable that comes with it. Think of the environmental benefits to being able to share a cable with other devices.<p>How many millions of USB -> Lightning cables are they still going to be manufacturing, because they want to use Lightning for whatever reason.
When I 1st heard they planned to do this, my reaction was negative. I've traditionally liked the fact that the box is complete, and also having a few spare chargers/headsets around.<p>But then I considered exactly how many old bits of redundant charger/headphone I've accumulated, and my family members.<p>This is a case where economic costs/profits and underlying resource constraints, as hoped, align. Let people reuse what they've got, or apply the fractional savings towards something they choose, rather than a baseline that's bundled for them.<p>If some consumers will react too negatively, Apple could throw in a gift-certificate good enough for an entry-level charger/headset, or applicable to the higher cost of something better.
like that crazy machine they had that disassembled an iphone but probably was made for the video not to exist in recycling factories, like soldering ram to logic board, like when they decided to stop having white macbooks... To me it sounds just marketing. Apple, take measures to improve repairability, produce replacement parts for longer periods and allow upgrades to existing hardware if you want to be green.
Maybe a hot take, but I'm fine with this.<p>It would be nice if I could somehow donate all my unused power bricks and folks who need them could get them for free.
One of the nice consequences of doing this, and probably one of the big reasons companies like doing it, is that you don't have to produce manage different versions for different regional plug standards. For example, I assume all of Europe, including the UK, will now get the same iPhone 12 box.
I know this will save them money but I think it's a good change regardless. I haven't been using the chargers or earbuds that came with my phones in ages. They all just stayed in the box. Such a waste.
This seems like an acknowledgement that the market is largely saturated, and the main reason people buy these new devices is because advertising convinces them that their one- or two- or three-year-old device, which still works perfectly fine, is somehow no longer good enough.<p>I'd wager 99% of iPhone users come nowhere near pushing their device to its limits, and could continue using an earlier-generation device for several more years without any significant loss (except presumably to their ego).
Considering the low cost of these items they should consider offering a free charger if purchased at a physical store upon request, perhaps even the same with the headphones.
Which would be awesome, except that the USB-C adapter wasn't included with any iPhone until last year (and those people aren't buying a new phone, it's the people who have older devices and therefore won't have a charger to use with their $800 smartphone). They may not even have a USB-C adapter at all, the only device I regularly use with USB-C is the Switch and that charger can't charge the iPhone.
> Apple says doing this will save 2 million metric tons of carbon annually.<p>Apple's forced destruction of traded in iPhones continues unabated on the other hand. I feel that this is mainly driven by economic and not environmental concerns.
how does this really help the environment when users will just buy these from 3rd parties? seems like it just reduces apple's emissions but doesnt reduce overall emissions. in fact, other companies peripherals probably have a "dirtier" process thats worse for the environment and arent as durable
If it's about the environment how about making this opt-in (as in: the default is without the accessories but I can also get the device with a charger/cable when I want)? I understand it makes packaging and logistics a bit more complicated but not impossibly so.
But did Apple reduce the price of iPhones by the corresponding amount they charge for these accessories? Otherwise it is just marketing bs for squeezing more money from the customers.
"There's plenty of chargers in the world"<p>"We're including a USB C to Lightning cable in the box, so it doesn't work with your existing chargers"