
iPhone 12 Models Won't Include Charger in Box, Power Adapter Sold Separately - Corrado
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/06/28/kuo-no-charger-in-iphone-12-box/
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lewisflude
Makes sense! Many consumers likely already have a USB-C charger, so splitting
it up gives people flexibility.

I will be interested to see how they communicate this to prevent first time
iPhone users being left without a charging cable/power brick.

~~~
ksec
>Makes sense! Many consumers likely already have a USB-C charger

I am willing to bet money the overwhelming majority consumer dont have USB-
_C_ chargers, only USB-A.

~~~
christophilus
But maybe Apple consumers will? I have a number of USB-C cables. Anyway, I
agree that reducing waste is good, but this move isn’t about waste. If Apple
cared about waste, they’d come up with some way of keeping old devices out of
landfills.

~~~
ksec
>But maybe Apple consumers will?

I dont think that is likely. Outside of tech circle, most have never even
touched a USB-C Cable. Especially those only uses iPhone, and not iPad or Mac.
There are 1 _Billion_ iPhone users, and only 100M Mac users ( And not every
Mac users has a USB-C Mac ).

Not saying it is a bad thing. Most would already have a USB-A to Lightning
Cable along with Charger so this doesn't matter. USB4 will be USB-C only
anyway, but the move is certainly unApple as they tend to plan this in the
very long run. Like including a USB-C 5W Charger for a few years before
completely dropping it.

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JamesBaxter
I suppose that if you’re upgrading to iPhone and already have one it is a
waste to give you yet another charger. I wonder how much energy is used
creating these cables that often go straight in a drawer because the previous
cable is already conveniently plugged into the wall.

~~~
Cthulhu_
Yeah in theory it's a defensible move, because we're moving towards
standardized charging ports. However, Apple is the only one that's being weird
about it, introducing the Lightning connector instead of e.g. switching to
micro-USB. USB-C was still a while out when Lightning was introduced.

But honestly they have no excuse to not adopt Micro-USB or USB-C.

~~~
tokamak-teapot
As an iPhone owner, I don’t want USB-C. Not yet, anyway. The reason is that I
don’t know how to be confident that a particular cable and power source will
charge my phone well and won’t fry it.

I expect Apple knows its customers would like to have confidence about this
and that’s why they are holding off.

With Lightning, I have been happy enough to plug into various non-Apple-brand
chargers with USB-A sockets. Maybe charging might not be as fast as with an
official charger. But it will likely work and I don’t expect the possibility
of damage.

~~~
michaelt
I don't think the explanation "Apple fears USB C/USB PD will fry devices" fits
the facts.

For one thing, this article claims Apple will ship a Lightning to USB-C cable
- so the phone will need to accept whatever voltages that come out of USB C
chargers anyway.

Second, Apple have adopted USB C on the Macbook - which would make no sense if
they were scared of USB C frying devices. And they didn't go in cautiously on
the macbook: They were one of the earliest adopters, and they dropped magsafe
and USB A as they did it.

So I'm with Cthulhu_ - I don't see any good reason for Apple to stick with
Lightning, except licensing fees.

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vbezhenar
That's good as long as they'll reduce price for a power adapter cost. Also I'd
happily buy iPhone without headphones with reduced price.

~~~
dmurray
How would you know if they reduce the price? If it's priced at $994 and they
say they took $5 off for the charger, that's OK, but what if it's priced at
$899 and they don't break down the price?

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kleiba
Charging via USB-C - does that mean you will be able to use generic non-Apple
chargers with the iPhone 12? (sorry, complete phone-noob here)

~~~
oevi
The article says a Lightning to USB-C cable will still be included. So you can
use any USB-C charger which can delivery the necessary power (as with the
iPhone 11).

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jhwhite
Hm. I switched from iPhone to Android almost 3 years ago and I'm thinking
about going back to iPhone in the fall. I don't have any of my old chargers
but this might not be a bad idea. If they deduct the cost of the charger
that's money I can put toward a longer cable. I would always buy longer
charging cables anyway.

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whywhywhywhy
These petty BOM reduction exercises from Tim Cook's Apple to claw back single
dollars on products that are $1000 are starting to get egregious.

~~~
leadingthenet
They also reduce e-waste.

Few people need yet another lightning / micro-usb / usb-c cable and charger.

~~~
panpanna
> They also reduce e-waste.

They do. But please note that Apple does this after years of pressure from EU
and are one of the last companies to do so.

So please don't make them into some kind of champions for the environment.

~~~
leadingthenet
> But please note that Apple does this after years of pressure from EU and are
> one of the last companies to do so.

I have no idea what you’re talking about. When exactly did the EU ask Apple
not to include the charger in the box?

I’m very doubtful of this claim.

~~~
panpanna
If you Google "EU charger" this The Verge article will be the top result:

"Since 2009, the European Commission has been trying to convince tech
companies to adopt a single charging method for our gadgets, primarily
smartphones, in a quest to reduce the waste that comes when every new gadget
you buy includes yet another AC adapter in the box. Now, Apple’s Lightning
connector may be at risk."

[https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/17/21070848/eu-apple-
europea...](https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/17/21070848/eu-apple-european-
commission-common-charger-lightning-cable-port)

~~~
nix23
Yes that means that you can charge your Android an Iphone with the SAME
charger, NOT that you don't include one with your phone.

And yet Apple could avoid implementing micro/usb-c (or the standard EU-Smart-
device charger hm-hmm) etc since 11 Years and nothing happened...thanks EU for
your strong fist and small mouth.

~~~
panpanna
Aren't you misunderstanding the directive?

The EU explicitly stated the goal was to reduce e-waste, and the only way to
do that is by not shipping a new charger with every phone.

Apple avoided all this by providing USB-lightning converters. This follows the
letter of law but produces even more waste. Eventually EU decided they had
enough and threatened to fine Apple.

~~~
nix23
>reduce e-waste

Yes so you dont have two incompatible chargers when apple decides to change
the plug again...that's when it started, that was 2009.

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strict9
It's predicted that next year's iPhone will be wireless only, so not including
a wired charger is the first step to getting consumers ready.

[https://www.macrumors.com/2019/12/05/kuo-iphone-without-
ligh...](https://www.macrumors.com/2019/12/05/kuo-iphone-without-lightning-
connector-2021/)

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disparate_dan
Isn’t it about time we moved away from the one-charger-per-device model? For
the last few devices I’ve bought, I’ve only charged them from a multi-port
Anker USB hub and the dedicated chargers have remained unused in the
packaging. Which is great for resale value but bad for e-waste!

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kgc
Finally. Including all that was a waste.

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edraferi
I was outraged for two seconds, then remembered I switched to wireless
charging anyway.

