Over the years, many manufacturers have stopped including accessories like earbuds or headphone dongles with their latest phones, but rumors now suggest companies are thinking of even omitting a phone charger in the box too.
We first heard rumblings Apple plans on skipping the charger on the iPhone 12 this fall, and now a new report by Korean publication ET News suggests Samsung is considering the same for next year.
According to the report, omitting the charger in-box can help offset some of the rising costs due to 5G technology. At some point, it seems to have dawned on these manufacturers that many people already have perfectly functional chargers at home, especially given how standardized USB-C and Lightning cables have become. I mean, I use my laptop’s USB-C cable for charging my phone most of the time anyway.
Cost savings aside, it’s quite frankly a great idea for the environment; chargers needn’t be disposable.
While I wish more people held on to their phones longer too, there’s really no reason a high-power charger shouldn’t be just as good to use several years down the road. I don’t expect battery sizes or power requirements to change dramatically in the years to come, so this is one omission I’m totally fine with.