In case you weren’t aware, Apple has removed the charging brick and EarPods from the iPhone 12 box; two accessories customers have been getting with new iPhones for more than a decade. However, Apple decided to remove the two accessories to reduce their carbon footprint and of course, cut costs in the process as well.

© Apple

However, the move was met with a massive pushback from iPhone users which resulted in a lot of memes that mocked Apple’s decision. Even though the iPhone 12 is the biggest upgrade in years, some users still want the accessories with their new phones instead of having to buy them separately.

© Apple

Apple briefly defended its decision to remove the two accessories on a talk show last night. Apple’s VP of iPhone marketing Kaiann Drance spoke to ABC News contributor Becky Worley on Good Morning America to give more context. Drance explained that the decision to remove the two accessories came from sustainability concerns and the fact that many iPhone users already own some of the accessories from prior purchases. 

"People often already have all that, it's sitting around in their house," said Drance when asked about the move. "Maybe they have multiple ones. It was kind of not the right thing to do in terms of the larger environmental goals.”

Apple wants to be completely carbon neutral by 2030 and is taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint. For example, the removal of the two accessories makes the iPhone 12’s retail box smaller which will allow the company to get 70% more units shipped on a single pallet which in turn reduces shipping-related emissions.

© Apple

However, it isn’t that simple as many new iPhone 12 users will be coming from phones that do not come with the required charger. The iPhone 12 comes with a USB-C to Lightning cable which means it needs a USB-C charging brick that only came with the iPhone 11 Pro from last year by Apple. Users who will be upgrading from older iPhone models will have to purchase the charger regardless of whether it is via Apple or a third-party vendor

Thankfully, the iPhone 12 supports Power Delivery charging which means iPhone 12 customers have a number of options. Users can also opt to get wireless chargers as Apple introduced their latest  “MagSafe” wireless chargers or any third-party Qi wireless charger. 

The iPhone 12 series are the most feature-rich smartphones by Apple yet and the first iPhones that support 5G wireless connectivity. It is powered by Apple’s latest 5nm A14 Bionic chipset and will be the most powerful phone of 2020. You can read more about iPhone 12 and other products the Cupertino giant announced earlier this week here. 

Source: Good Morning America

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