Heard on Macworld Podcast that iPhones might not be shipped with Chargers and headphones. What do you guys think?
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Headphones would be logical, chargers would be strange.
Could imagine leaving the brick out but adding the cable
like most companies it;s all about profit margins
I think it would be at least strange given that iPhone was billed as an iPod with touchscreen controls when it was introduced (obviously as a phone too lol) but you get my meaning. Granted most people are probably using their own favorite Bluetooth tech, but I’d imagine that there’s a section of buyers that specifically look forward to getting EarPods with every new iPhone they get.
but would these buyers not spend another 29.99 to get some headphones?
If they don’t provide a charger and you charge with a charger from some market place, a cheap one. It over heats and damages the iPhone. Who is to be held responsible here. I think people will end up suing Apple for loss of their devices. It will be interesting to see what Apple does. They would have put lot of thought and design to make their chargers compatible with the phones. A cheap charger will never be able to compete with that level of testing and quality.
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Not only profit margin but e-waste as well.
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When I first heard rumours that they weren’t going to include a charger it raised an eyebrow but the more I thought about it I realised I wouldn’t miss any of those items from the box as I don’t use them.
(not even sure where most of them are to be honest). My phone gets charged on a Qi wireless charger and I’ve been using bluetooth headphones for years now.
If they can push down on the amount of e-waste and also reduce packaging requirements and so on then I think it’s worthwhile.
Truth or rumour? It’s a rumour until Apple announces something.
What I hope that they do is include a charge cable, and offer a discount if you don’t want the brick-thinly (sorry to slip into technical jargon there). I have so many crappy Apple iPhone chargers that are not being used, that I would like the option to order my phones without one. There are lots of really good USB chargers out there.
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I’d love it to not get the stupid headphones. I have a pile of them from old devices and never used them at all. hey hurt my ears. Chargers OTOH I want with each device.
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I predict the customer would lose that lawsuit. All Apple would have to do is indicate that you’re to use a certified charger.
Of course I’m not a lawyer, but it doesn’t seem like negligence as long as the company provides you with the note that a charger isn’t included, directions regarding how to get a good one, and that they manufacture a safe option…even if that option costs extra.
That would be kind of like suing a toy company because you used cheap junky AA batteries and they exploded inside your toy, with the logic that the company should have included good batteries. 
And of course there’s already a plethora of people using the junkiest of junky cables, bricks, etc. now…and really, how many phones really overheat, in practice?
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I think it’s going to make a lot of the general public who buys iPhones very angry. To me, a charger seems essential.
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I dunno. It seems like it will be bad P.R. for Apple, although I’m sure they’ll try to explain it as reducing waste.
OTOH, even my 80 year-old mother has a drawer with a bunch of spare iPhone chargers in it.
I don’t need a charger or a cable or earbuds, for that matter.
Yes, by all means, ship it in a thinner box.
Also, how about you knock ~$50 off the price (or whatever amount Apple chargers for that charger, cable, and earbuds at retail)?
Instead, what I suspect Apple will do is ship fewer things in the box and keep the price the same.
Someone (MacSparky? Stephen? I don’t remember) suggested on some podcast that when the user is checking out from an iPhone purchase, they ought to have the option to add a charger, cable, and/or earbuds if they want them, and they ought to be no additional charge (unless Apple does actually reduce the cost of the new iPhones that do not come with them). Apple can leave the default as not including them, but the user ought to be able to get them pretty easily at the same time.
It can’t be that hard to add to the checkout process. Apple’s a fairly good-sized company these days. I hear their stock price is doing well lately.
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I think that’s it. DSLRs used to always come with chargers too, but starting a couple of years ago many come without them, as the cameras accept USB charging (an inconvenience if you have multiple batteries, and microUSB ports tend to get flaky with significant use). If anyone wants to get a charger, they buy a charger. Occasional grumbling online about this from time to time, but because it’s Apple you know and they know it’ll be the -gate du jour they’ll be beaten up over should they do it.
As with cameras I could see new iPhones coming with just a charging cable, which could be connected to a computer or an existing charger; at this saturation point for smartphones virtually everyone buying one has a charger, or could charge via a computer.
In fact, should iPhones go portless in 2021 - with Smart Connector, presumably - I could see those models offering wireless charging but coming standard with an Apple Watch-like Smart-Connector charging puck on a cable.
My guess would be the choice not to put a charger in the box could be caused by the new EU directive that phone manufacturers must provide options to charge that are universal, and USB-C is what the manufacturers chose.
It MIGHT just mean the next iPhones have USB-C ports and no longer have lightning ports
The rumours say that they will still include the cable, just not the brick. Headphones are also something most people have. My guess is that when you order your iPhone, they will give you a discount on a brick. This could be a good thing because it could cut down on the size of the box. It’ll cut down on e-waste for the people that already have the brick. I believe this is true, because it would just all make sense.
If they pass on the discount to the consumer for
- Discounted brick if you need one.
- Discounted AirPods in lieu of headphones.
It will be awesome.
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Yes, that would be da best
Similar was said when the iPhone 7 dropped the headphone jack. Didn’t seem to hurt Apple all that much.
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In January the European Parliament passed a resolution calling upon the European Commission to adopt rules on the mandatory introduction of common chargers. No law has been passed yet. In fact the resolution states it wants the Commission to “…take action to introduce the common charger by adopting the delegated act supplementing Directive 2014/53/EU on radio equipment defining a standard for a common charger for mobile phones and other small and medium-sized radio equipment by July 2020, or, if necessary, by adopting a legislative measure by July 2020 at the latest;…”
They didn’t.
I think it is more likely that the longstanding rumors are true about Apple adopting portless designs for the iPhone, and the slowness of EU bureaucracy only helps Apple continue with Lightning for another year while they aim towards portless designs. The EU cannot mandate institution of a port, thus Apple does an end-run around requirements for ported smartphones by having them use USB-C chargers with the appropriate cables, as they can do now.
Apple is not opposed to the use of USB=C - it’s an original member of the spec committee and it’s on the path to using it in all iPads. But I think Apple has design reasons to forgo ports in its smallest computing devices and we may never see USB-C on iPhones.