Do you remember the confusion about the rumors about the lack of a charging cube (or if you prefer – chargers) in boxes with the iPhone 12? As it turned out to be true, Apple at its conference dressed it as expected in an environmental protection pad. And I am absolutely for the protection of the environment, but when I read that Repairing AirPods costs 2x more than buying new ones – these stories about environmental protection do not bind me at all. We also counted on the fact that since the charger disappears from the box, the smartphone will be at least slightly cheaper.
But it is not minimally cheaper, although it also depends on the specific model. iPhone 12 is 600 zlotys more expensive than the iPhone 11). However, it is difficult to compare individual models one to one, for example by the presence of 5G, which theoretically increases the price. However, the bill is simple – the element of the box that has always been present in it has disappeared, it did not have a positive effect on the price of the smartphone. So we let ourselves be “fooled” and we have to adapt to the suggestion that we already have chargers at home. We do, but since it is not in the box, the price should be lower than a year ago. For me, it’s a simple and logical calculation.
This, of course, is not the first time that we have allowed ourselves to do so. Do you remember how each smartphone used to have wired headphones in the box? Usually you couldn’t get much out of them, but they were still part of the set. I currently have a few test smartphones at home, so I put the boxes in front of me and check:
- Moto G9 Plus – no headphones
- Oppo Reno 4 Pro – there are headphones
- Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite – no headphones
- Samsung Galaxy S20FE – no headphones
- Samsung Galaxy M51 – there are headphones
I remember when Xiaomi in the Mi Mix 3 model added a fast induction charger to the box – unfortunately, the topic was abandoned, and my hopes to improve the content of the starter kits fell as quickly as they arose.
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Why give as you can earn? Exactly – have you noticed that now almost every smartphone manufacturer has or wants to have their own headphones? Preferably wireless, exactly like AirPods, i.e. standalone, not connected with a cable. Small, handy, so everyday. But he doesn’t add them to the boxes, he sells them separately – you know, they’re too expensive, so it’s not profitable for them. And since there are no headphones in the box with the smartphone, you have to buy one, so business is booming.
Will Apple’s decision not to add a charger to the set affect the market? Of course – they never added great chargers, or rather ordinary, slow cubes – but the signal is there. In a moment, the new 12 iPhones will generate great sales results and the rest of the producers will start copying their approach as they used to copy the notch, i.e. the notch on the screen. Especially since now there is a fashion for fast charging, so in the boxes of Chinese smartphones you can find large, powerful chargers. Their absence means no cost, the prices will not be lowered by anyone, so producers will be a bit ahead on each item. I would like to be wrong, but you will see that soon a new smartphone will not receive a charger in the box, and the company will turn it into a story about saving the environment. After all, we have an ordinary charger at home, you can buy a better one. Following this path, we also do not need a cable, because there are USB-C cables all over the house.
Of course we can vote with wallets and that’s exactly what we do, but show me one person who won’t buy an iPhone 12 just because there’s no charger in the box. Even if there is such a person, it can be treated as a statistical error.
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