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Wonder why Apple stopped giving chargers with iPhones? Here's the reason    Credits: Bella

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Apple had announced in 2020 that the firm will no longer be giving out charging adapters along with iPhones upon purchase. This decision by the technology giant had caused a furore among buyers. The common outcry was that iPhones are expensive and the least Apple could do is provide a charging adapter along with the smartphone.

Apple had tackled the criticism it faced by stating that this move was for the benefit of the environment. The firm has now released some figures which showcase the impact made by its decision to stop giving out charging adapter with iPhones.

Apple has stated that that power adapters use large amount of materials such as plastic, copper, and zinc for manufacturing. Apple was able to conserve 8.61 lakh tons of copper, zinc and metal by not giving out charging adapters with its iPhones, the firm stated in its Environmental Progress Report.

Apple explained that by not giving out a charger it was able to reduce the size of the iPhone box thus making the packaging process more efficient. "Leaving out those adapters was a bold change for Apple, and a necessary one for our planet," said Apple on the environment page of its website.

"Since removing them from iPhone and Apple Watch packaging last year, we've avoided mining a significant amount of materials from the earth, and we've eliminated the emissions that come from processing and transporting them," stated Apple.

In its Environmental Progress Report, Apple states that it was able to reduce CO2 emissions to 22.6 million tons from 25.1 million tons in 2019. The firm claims that by introducing the M1 chip for its Mac devices, the firm was able to reduce its overall carbon footprint by 34 per cent.

Also Read: Apple announces first-ever $200 million carbon removal initiative

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Wonder why Apple stopped giving chargers with iPhones? Here's the reason

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Apple had tackled the criticism it faced by stating that this move was for the benefit of the environment. The firm has now released some figures which showcase the impact made by its decision to stop giving out charging adapter with iPhones

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Apple ditching chargers saves costs but not the planet      Credits: Tito

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Apple's decision to no longer include wall chargers and earbuds in its new iPhone 12 boxes is good for business, but just how good it will be for the planet is harder to see. The move saves the company money, but some of the environmental benefits could be offset by people buying earbuds and chargers separately.

Environmental benefits could be offset by people buying earbuds and chargers separately

Apple made the announcement during its October 13th event. Unlike previous models, the iPhone 12 will come with only a USB-C to Lightning cable. The company said that excluding the wall charger and earbuds would lead to less mining, packaging, and planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions associated with making the products. The company also got kudos from some environmental groups for cutting back on e-waste, a growing problem that Apple contributes to with its constant stream of new gadgets. This week's announcement is the latest move Apple has made to become a more environmentally friendly company, and it follows a big pledge it made in July to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

"They sold this as kind of an environmental friendly rule," says Angelo Zino, a senior industry analyst with investment research firm CFRA Research. But Apple's waste-cutting move is also a good financial move. "Clearly the bottom line has a lot to do with it."

The transition to 5G is a big reason why Apple might be looking for cost savings

The transition to 5G is a big reason why Apple might be looking for cost savings by including fewer accessories with its phones, tech analysts tell The Verge. For the first time, Apple's entire line of new phones will support 5G. That makes it more expensive to make the iPhone 12 compared to the iPhone 11 because the components that enable 5G speeds are more complex and costly.

Zino estimates that the radio frequency components alone in the new iPhone 12 are going to cost 30 to 35 percent more than they did in earlier iPhones. "Apple is going to look to cut costs in other aspects of the phone," he says.

Deciding not to include a power block and AirPods with a new phone is one way to do that. That might only increase the company's gross profit per phone by a little over 1 percent, says Gene Munster, a managing partner at venture capital firm Loup Ventures. But it's something. "I would just generally think about this as a maneuver to maintain the current profitability of the phone," Munster says.

A company making a production choice that's good for business and good for the planet seems like a win-win. But Apple is assuming that the people buying the new iPhone already have old headphones and chargers ready to use instead.

If people decide to buy AirPods anyway because they don't already have earbuds, that's a big win for Apple but not for the planet. If Apple sells roughly the same number of phones this year as it did in 2018 - about 217 million - and just 5 percent of those people decide to add AirPods to their cart, the company stands to make an additional $700 million in gross profit, according to Munster.

That doesn't necessarily reduce emissions overall; it just spreads the greenhouse gasses around

The problem is that buying chargers or headphones separately could mean more packaging waste and emissions from separate deliveries. Some of that might add to Apple's carbon footprint, and some of it might get tacked on to different companies' carbon footprints if consumers decide to buy the accessories from other vendors. That doesn't necessarily reduce emissions overall; it just spreads the greenhouse gasses around between different companies.

"This is going to be a huge boon, at least in the short term, to accessory makers who are going to be selling USB-C chargers," says Avi Greengart, founder and lead analyst at consultancy Techsponential.

That's because the cable that is included with the iPhone 12 isn't compatible with the power blocks included with many previous iPhones. Consumers who don't have a compatible charger lying around will need to purchase a USB-C wall charger or wireless charger in order to use their new phones.

There are so many factors that could throw a wrench in companies' sustainability initiatives

There's another reason why scrapping accessories might not result in as big of a cut in greenhouse gases as Apple predicts. The new iPhone 12 will be shipped in smaller packaging since the box will be packed with less stuff. That allows for 70 percent more boxes to be shipped on a pallet, according to the company. More boxes on each pallet should translate to fewer delivery trips and less pollution from tailpipes, according to the company. But it plays out differently in real life, says Sara Behdad, associate professor of environmental engineering sciences at the University of Florida.

Just because there's more space on a pallet, doesn't mean it will be filled. "Shipping to stores is based on demand," Behdad says. How densely a pallet is filled might depend on how many phones a retailer thinks it will sell and how much storage space is available. So smaller packaging doesn't necessarily lead to a huge drop in shipping emissions.

There are so many factors that could throw a wrench in companies' sustainability initiatives. "It's actually very difficult to make a specific claim about how sustainable a specific product could be," Behdad says. "New features [that claim to make products more sustainable] bring us a lot of questions"

That uncertainty leaves room for skepticism - especially when it comes to incremental changes aimed at addressing giant problems like climate change or e-waste. "Selling the new iPhone 12 with or without headphones/airpods or a charging block included distracts us from the larger question: why Apple and other electronics companies have not taken greater responsibility for reusing and recycling their products the vast majority of which [are] still disposed in the U.S. and globally," Scott Cassel, CEO of the nonprofit Product Stewardship Institute, said in an email to The Verge.

The company's influence on industry and consumer behavior leaves it with a lot of responsibility

The company would have a bigger impact if it made its products easier to refurbish so that they don't become "obsolete and junk after a few years," Cassel wrote. Apple's AirPods, for example, tend to have a shorter shelf life than traditional headphones because it's so hard to replace the lithium-ion battery inside.

This particular announcement was one of the smaller steps that Apple has taken to up its environmental game. In July, it pledged to zero-out its carbon emissions by 2030 and debuted a new robot named "Dave" to disassemble old iPhones and recover materials that can be used again.

"Historically, I feel like they've really been at the forefront in terms of talking about climate change," Zino tells The Verge. The company's influence on industry and consumer behavior does leave it with a lot of responsibility. "There's so much that they can still do."

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Apple ditching chargers saves costs but not the planet

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Apple's decision to no longer include wall chargers and earbuds in its new iPhone 12 boxes is good for business, but just how good it will be for the planet is harder to see. The move saves the company money, but some of the environmental benefits could be offset by people buying earbuds and chargers separately.

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Pros

1- The move was part of the company's efforts to become more environmentally friendly.

2- Apple explained that by not giving out a charger it was able to reduce the size of the iPhone box so making the packaging process more efficient.

3- Chargers cost money and Apple can save $$ by not including one.

Cons

1- If you paid $1000 and no charger included then no customer would be satisfied by that

2- Customers complain how chargers are now accessories and not what's needed

3- Customers are trying to return Apple iPhones because they are not receiving chargers

Credits: Bella and Tito

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Should apple discontinue to give charges to customers after purchasing a new iPhone? Credits: Bella

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54 West Colorado Boulevard Pasadena, Ca 91105 and Consumers relations. Credits: Tito

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Apple had tackled the criticism it faced by stating that the move was for the benefit of the environment. Apple was able to conserve 8.61 lakh tons of copper, zinc and metal by not giving out charging adapters with its iPhones, the firm stated in its Environmental Progress Report. Credits: Bella

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Apple aims to become 100% carbon neutral by 2030. So, apple thinks that by removing the charger and Earpods from the any iPhone and especially iPhone 12 box, it can cut the packings by 70% and ship more devices, that would reduce the shipping-related emissions. Credits: Tito

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The move of the new iPhone 12 saved the company money, but some of the environmental benefits could be offset by people buying earbuds and chargers separately. But the problem is that buying chargers or headphones separately could mean more packaging waste and emissions from separate deliveries so there is no necessarily reduce emissions overall because it just spreads the greenhouse gasses around between different companies from what the website is referring to.

Credits: Bella and Tito

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What Apple's iPhone Charger Lawsuit Defeat Means For Everyone Else   Credits: Bella

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A Brazilian court has ordered to compensate an iPhone buyer with a sum of about $1,080 after a complaint was filed against the company's policy of not supplying a charger in the retail package of its phones. Apple made the controversial decision to remove the charger in 2020 when it launched the iPhone 12 series. Apple argued that removing the charger would reduce the environmental burden contributed by e-waste, with the assumption that most smartphone users have a charger lying around. The decision was not particularly well-received by smartphone buyers, but the company has not been swayed despite reasonable concerns.

Apple's move triggered an industry-wide trend, with Samsung being the most prominent name in the segment to follow in its footsteps. The transition happened at the time when the European Union's push towards standardizing smartphone chargers was gaining steam. Back then, Apple argued that charger standardization would harm consumers and stifle innovation. For an average buyer spending north of $800 on an iPhone, however, not getting a charging brick with their heavy investment can make them feel cheated.

Related: Apple Will Pay $95 Million In Lawsuit Over Refurbished Devices

One such dissatisfied customer filed a legal complaint in Brazil and has actually managed to win a favorable decision, per a report. Regional judge Vanderlei Caires Pinheiro has ruled that Apple must pay a sum of 5,000 Brazilian Real - approximately $1,080 based on the current conversion rate - to the affected buyer, with an additional 1 percent fine for every month since the summons began and a penalty of $100 for each day that the payment was delayed. The case has not received a class-action status, because if that happens, Apple will have to compensate every customer who lays a claim that the no-charger policy violated their consumer rights. In 2021, a group of five Chinese students actually filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple for not bundling a charger in the iPhone's retail package. Apple is no stranger to class-action lawsuits, with the company agreeing to pay a sum of $95 million as a settlement after losing a case over the sub-par performance of refurbished devices.

Small Loss With Huge Ramifications For The Future

The latest court ruling in Brazil is another setback for Apple, irrespective of how infinitesimally small the amount is compared to the hundreds of billions in its coffers. It is yet another loss for Apple in the South American country, following a 2020 defeat that forced the company to bundle a charging brick with phones sold in the state of Sao Paolo. For two years in a row, Apple was fined a sum of $1.9 million for not providing a charger for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 series phones by the country's consumer protection regulator. Apple has shown no intention of making a course correction for the entire nation, let alone its global market. However, the latest ruling sets a precedent that could get the ball rolling if more iPhone buyers decide to take Apple to court.

The reason cited by the court in Apple's latest legal tussle is also of critical importance. The court order (machine translated from Portuguese to English) clearly states that " the adapter is an essential item for effective operation of the purchased object." Citing Apple's policy as " abusive," the court also lambasted the defense that removing the charger was to curb the negative impact on the environment, despite Apple continuing to make chargers and selling them separately. The latter reasoning has been voiced by experts not just in Brazil, but across Asia and EU nations as well.

Apple is said to have saved billions by removing the charger from iPhones' retail box, but rather than passing on the benefits to customers in a tangible way, the company is raking in more profits by hawking wired as well as wireless MagSafe chargers separately. It remains to be seen whether the latest court ruling from Brazil sends ripples across international borders and lands Apple into more consumer rights trouble.

Next: Apple May Be Releasing A 35 Watt Charger With Dual USB-C Ports Soon

Source: Bloomberg

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What Apple's iPhone Charger Lawsuit Defeat Means For Everyone Else

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Apple will compensate an iPhone buyer in Brazil for not bundling a charger in the box, but the latest legal defeat could have a far-reaching impact.

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Apple: Thinking Inside the Box - Counterpoint   Credits: Tito

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Apple: Thinking Inside the Box - Counterpoint

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Apple: Thinking Inside the Box - Counterpoint