The iPhone 12 Won't Come With A Charger For Environmental Reasons. People Call Bullsh*t
"No charger, no EarPods, no fingerprint scanner. Clearly, they don't care."
By Yap Wan Xiang — 14 Oct 2020, 02:48 PM
Apple has unveiled the iPhone 12 lineup at 1am Malaysian time today, 14 October, and the Internet is largely unhappy about one thing:
The iPhones will no longer come with a power adapter.
Citing environmental reasons, Apple will ship out all four models of the iPhone 12 without the EarPods and the USB Power Adapter.
In the company's keynote event today, vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives Lisa Jackson said the move will reduce two million metric tonnes of carbon annually, which is equivalent to cutting down 450,000 cars from the road every year.
"Customers already have over 700 million Lightning headphones, and many customers have moved to a wireless experience," said Lisa.
"There are also two billion Apple Power Adapters out in the world, and that is not counting the billions of third-party adapters."
"So we are removing these items from the iPhone box, which reduces the carbon emission and avoids the mining and use of precious materials," she continued.
The removal of the two crucial accessories has made iPhone 12 boxes smaller, and in return, enables them to ship 70% more products on a shipping pallet.
But that is not all.
The content in the iPhone 12 boxes is somewhat contradictory to Apple's aspiration to leave as little carbon footprint in the world as well.
On Apple Malaysia's website, the company says the box will only contain the iPhone and USB-C to Lightning Cable.
The same accessory exclusion also applies to iPhone SE, iPhone 11, and iPhone XR models as well.
Apple suggests customers to "use your current Apple power adapter and headphones, or purchase these accessories separately".
However, in case you fail to notice, the new iPhones do not come with the same USB to Lightning Cable that many iPhone users have at home.
Instead, what comes in the box is a USB-C to Lightning Cable. If you do not have a USB-C power brick, it is very likely that the new cable will sit in the box and never see the light of the day — unless you buy a USB-C power brick that costs RM99 on Apple's website.
Is it a coincidence that Apple has also introduced a new wireless charging accessory called the MagSafe Charger that retails for RM179 during the keynote event?
After hearing the news, many netizens took to social media to grouch about Apple's latest move
One Twitter user briefly summarised Apple's latest environmental initiative while pointing out a hypocrisy in the move.
Another netizen added in agreement, saying the move will make consumers end up with more boxes.
On the other hand, a person said Apple should have improved the quality of iPhone cables if the company is truly committed to reducing carbon emissions so that customers do not have to buy new ones every now and then.
Meanwhile, a YouTuber user commented on Apple's keynote event video, saying that the move is just an excuse for the company to upsell another product.
"No charger, no EarPods, no fingerprint scanner. Clearly, they don't care," added a person, while another said in jest that Apple will one day stop including the charging cable and eventually the phone.
iPhone 12 comes in four models. Here is the product line-up and their starting prices:
- iPhone 12 Mini: RM3,399
- iPhone 12: RM3,899
- iPhone Pro: RM4,899
- iPhone Pro Max: RM5,299
