I agree, TJ. It seems to me to be like bad PR for Apple too. It’s like “Here, you’re on your own, chump.” And for the neophyte, they might not be able to use their new iDevice for awhile. Apple 
cares a lot more than that for their customers as evidenced by the way their employees at AppleCare are trained, maintained– for starters.
You pay a little bit more for the privilege of not being taken to the cleaners.
I just wish they included a more powerful adapter with their iDevices. That would really be nice and worth paying just a little bit more, for instance just cost as an option when you buy a device. That would take care of there being an excess number of them around as there would be no need to replace them in order to get something faster, more convenient for the iCustomer. What do you think? Individualize the sale a little more.
Seems to me that these items do not generate all that much waste. I mean, these items are NOT CHEAP! People are well aware of the devices need to be disposed of properly. I dunno. I still have my Performa 6200. Last time I checked it worked. Twenty five megabytes left!
As it is, they are cutting corners so much it borders on the absurd. There should be information inside these boxes, on PAPER, mind you, on how to best use them. I so long for the days when I could curl up with a manual or two.
Then we need to make sure to take care of the awesome 
trees 
as they are a renewable resource if we’re careful.
I use to sell books on eBay. You know, recycle them!
Btw, I’d like to get a better adapter. Would it be worth it to get one stronger than a 18 w? I have an iPad mini, iPad Air 3, an Apple Watch 5, ¡Phone SE 2020.
I’m sure Apple will make sure buyers are aware of limitations (or upselling). Clearly they (and Samsung, according to reports) are considering this because the number of ‘neophytes’ who don’t have a charger or a conmputer or hub from which to charge is a vanishingly small number.
Of course, they are dwindling, even as we speak. But there are lots of people that don’t have them that I know of and/or perhaps they might have Android ones.
To have to stop and go look for them would be a rather icky experience, imho. Even worse, to have to buy them and wait for delivery. There are plenty of people who wouldn’t even know what to buy. And someone might object to that info being included on paper in the box.
And as for the headphones, the customer might just do without. But it would be a much nicer experience to put those things in your ears so they can keep falling out. At any rate, that would make for a happier planet.
They could easily add what they needed to their bag as they purchase a device and voila! Everybody is happy!
Then there is the matter of not having one readily available. If Apple stopped and asked the customer what they might need or want, we’d almost all be happier all the way around.
To me it makes little sense to eliminate the items that really are not extras but rather required, just to save a few bucks or because some people have lots and lots. Can’t the latter drop them off somewhere to be recycled? They’ll feel all warm and fuzzy.
Apple is a successful company precisely because it doesn’t treat the customer with contempt. (Not that this would be contempt… it wouldn’t but you know what I mean). They want the customer to have a pleasant experience with their devices used to enhance their lives. Eliminating these items to save bucks would not be conducive to the Apple “experience”.
You save up. You buy a cool new rather expensive device. You eagerly await its arrival. The UPS guy comes. You open the box. You take out your new ______. Ok. iPhone and after you do the installation, your iPhone tells you it needs to recharge. You start looking around. You look in the box. Nothing. No manual. (LOL! My pet peeve.) No cord. No charger. You don’t know much but you know it needs to be charged with a charger. You try your old Android charger. It doesn’t fit! You know, the thing-a-ma-jig…! (You ought to see me in a hardware store.)
You call your best friend. He brings his charger but he can only stay for an hour and fifteen minutes and he needs to take the charger home with him. Ok. Cool. You have it charged for about two days. He gives you the number for AppleCare.
You call AppleCare “Oh we use to give the charger and the cord out for free, included with your iPhone, but a few people complained! Now it’s $38 for the lightning cord and the 5 w adapter! Will you be using ApplePay?”
Oh yeah. And then you figure out you have no little earbuds. $29!
$67! You have to wait days and, no, you don’t want the crummy old earbuds from your old ipod! You’d like the new ones!
So why was it, again, you selected Apple and paid more?
I really do think that this is more about reducing environmental impact instead of cheapness. It would be absolutely trivial for Apple to give the option of including a charger or headphones during the purchase process. If they want to avoid the inevitable “scandal” then they could make the default option to be “none” and show that it discounts the price of the purchase slightly.
Honestly though, were I to have the option of not having a charger shipped to me, I’d choose that even if it didn’t result in a discount. I have way, way too many useless Apple 5W chargers as it is.
‘Lots you know’ is almost as useful as “lots”. 
Since a cable connected to a desktop, a powered hub, or an extant charger would serve to charge new phones, since 96% of Americans have a smartphone, and 3.5 billion people have smartphones around the world (out of 4.8 billion mobile phones total), and since three-quarters have mobile or desktop computers as well, I’ll repeat that the numbers of people who could not possibly, in any way whatsoever, recharge a new smartphone if a cable were included is vanishingly small, and helps to explain why the two biggest manufacturers of them are evidently considering dropping them from inclusion with future phones.
I think there are separate cases to be made for the each component of the charger.
Personally…
The little 5V 1A wall block? I could take it or leave it. I never use that block, as I like to use the larger blocks to get faster charging. I probably have half a dozen of them laying around that I never use. And if I got so hard-up that I needed one and couldn’t find any USB port anywhere, I can pick up perfectly good ones (that won’t start my phone on fire 
) for $5 or so at literally dozens of stores within a few miles.
The cable? It’s nice to get an official, genuine Apple cable with the device. Cables go bad with some frequency, and the MFI thing means that not every cheap lightning cable even works correctly - so the freebie cable is a Good Thing. And this echoes the standard practice of other device manufacturers who include (for example) a Micro USB cable with a headset, rather than a full charger with a wall plug. The ownership of a wall plug, computer with USB, etc. is just assumed. But again, if I were completely stuck, I could pick up a lightning cable that would work just fine - for under $10 - at a number of stores in rather close proximity to me.
If I were wagering, I’d bet the cable is there, and the charging brick isn’t.
Where? Seriously, I have lots of unused apple headphones I’d gladly give away or recycle. But there is NO electronic recycling in our area at all. The nearest hundreds of miles away. That’s part of why we have a respectable comouter museum in the garage because we have no way to get rid of old cpmputers or any form of e-waste.
Intersting, I’m always searching for one as I can never find them. Nearest store to get them is a 150 mile round trip so not going to happen frequently.
What I would like is the option to buy several sets of cables at a reasonable price so I can set charging stations up where I need them.
What is really unfortunate is that, based on what we’ve seen so far, Apple is going to take out the charger, pocket the savings, and charge people for something that used to come in the box.
Someone really needs to tell Apple they’re not longer struggling to survive so maybe they could not nickel and dime their customers every chance they get.
You know, TJ, one of the main reasons I much prefer Apple is the excellent service. While this is not exactly a service per se, inclusion of items to make an iPad or iPhone up and running right out of the box are indicative of respect for the customer.
I honestly don’t have these items just lying around. People could conceivably opt out of them without too much trouble on Apple’s part. The little earbuds are super portable and the chargers can be always used as a backup if you misplace yours. Apple cannot modify a policy they had in the past. There are plenty of other ways to take care of the environment that are not being tended to.
Exclusion of parts of a very expensive device should not be part of them. And you are so very right. Apple is hardly hurting economically.
Oogie, it’s unfortunate that you don’t have recycling centers available but then again you probably have less crime than would go on in a more populated area. 
Nevertheless, Apple cannot change a past policy.
Maybe you could donate them to a school. As a teacher, I’d surmise a lot more iPads are being used and the little kids especially would get the biggest kick out of owning their own mini earbuds. They are accustomed to the large ones which, face it, aren’t anywhere near as cool or fun! You might not have enough for an entire class. Suggest they be given out as incentives.
There are lots of other ways you can take care of conservation.
I just contacted a teacher in our local school district and no they do not want and will not accept any electronic system donations of any type. So that option is out the window.
It’s not about the cost of the charger or headphones but the size of the packaging.
I think the box will be ⅓ or the thickness. That will save a huge amount in the cost of logistics…
If they sell iPhones like loose potatoes they will still save a lot. Pick your own iPhone 
That’s ridiculous.
You know, Oogie, if you run across another individual teacher, just ask her if she’d be interested. No one needs to go through the District office.
I taught for about 25 years and I would have grabbed them. The kids can also use them to listen to stories on tape. How many sets do you have? I have one friend who would likely love to have them for her class. I’m not sure of the age of the kids.
Oogie, do you need a lil 5 volt charger? I can mail you one. 
I’ll trade you for it. I’ll send you my extra headphones in exchange for an extra charger block . 
I’ll PM address
But I have headphones! LOL! I’ll take a postcard (or a card) though! That would be very nice, Oogie. A photo of one of your critters, especially a baby, if you like. Ok?
“PM address”??
Katie Burns
700 Green Garden
Lockport, IL 60441