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Iphone Power Apple Hardware

iPhone 12 Won't Include Charger In Box, Says Analyst (macrumors.com) 97

According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, iPhone 12 models will not include EarPods or a power adapter in the box. MacRumors reports: Kuo said that Apple will instead release a new 20W power adapter as an optional accessory for iPhones and end production of its existing 5W and 18W power adapters later this year. The form factor of the new 20W power adapter is said to be similar to the 18W version, with USB-C Power Delivery for fast charging, as seen in the leaked photo below. Kuo believes that iPhone 12 production costs will significantly increase due to 5G support, but he expects Apple to sell the new models at a comparable price to its iPhone 11 lineup, and removing the EarPods and power adapter from the box is one way to reduce costs. Apple would likely also tout the environmental benefits of such a move. Barclays still expects Apple to include a Lightning to USB-C cable in the box as the only accessory included with iPhone 12 models.
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iPhone 12 Won't Include Charger In Box, Says Analyst

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  • Wow (Score:5, Insightful)

    by war4peace ( 1628283 ) on Monday June 29, 2020 @05:11PM (#60244482)

    If true, it's a 2nd most ridiculous decision, after that monitor with separately-sold monitor support.

    • Ridiculous? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by goombah99 ( 560566 )

      For whom? Slashdot whiners have been whining for years about Apple not letting you use 3rd party parts. Now they aren't forcing you to buy their charger. So now you complain about that? Now that is worthy of Ridicule

      • For whom? Slashdot whiners have been whining for years about Apple not letting you use 3rd party parts. Now they aren't forcing you to buy their charger. So now you complain about that? Now that is worthy of Ridicule

        Yup, I've got a drawer full of USB chargers and cables any of whom can charge an iPhone just fine. This is not exactly the end of the world.

        • Not just a drawer full every powerboard I buy now has one even my tool chargers and car have USB ports for charging, but really the problem is the number of cables I've now bought a few wireless chargers and I think this is what is really said by apples move
      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by blindseer ( 891256 )

        For whom? Slashdot whiners have been whining for years about Apple not letting you use 3rd party parts. Now they aren't forcing you to buy their charger. So now you complain about that? Now that is worthy of Ridicule

        This. All this. People complain about Apple doing one thing and then complain when Apple does what they ask.

        I can remember this going way back. I think it was the Macintosh LC III sold in the 1990s that didn't come with a keyboard like previous models had. People complained about the lack of a keyboard. This was after years of complaining about Apple including a keyboard for people that were upgrading to the latest model of Macintosh and therefore already owned a keyboard. By the time the Mac Mini cam

        • What I've heard people complain about is Apple chargers using non-standard connectors and the fees they charge 3rd parties to make compatible peripherals, which is a valid criticism of the technology itself.

          I've also heard people complain about Apple bundling earphones that aren't particularly good, and more often than not get thrown away. You may be confusing these two criticisms.

          With the earphones, people are more likely to already have a set they've selected for physical fit or sound quality. It's not un

        • No, complaiing about third party parts is not the big deal. Complaining about using non standard accessories that essentially require you go to Apple or Apple-approved vendors is a thing.

          So you order the new phone online, it arrives a few days later (you're saving on overnight shipping costs maybe, but maybe Apple fans opt for 20 minute delivery). Then you can't actually use the phone because you can't charge it and you have no USB-C devices or adapters. Then you try to use your existing ear pods only to

        • What exactly is ridiculous about buying a phone, opening the box and discovering that you can't charge it because they didn't give you an AC adaptor? Well, okay, that is kinda ridiculous, but not really in the way I think you meant.
        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Slashdot whiners have been whining for years about Apple not letting you use 3rd party parts. Now they aren't forcing you to buy their charger. So now you complain about that?

        Yeah, that’s what happens when a large group of people have different opinions. Some will complain when A done, others when B is done.

        I’m sure this can be very upsetting, and worthy of ridicule to some, but it actually used to be somewhat normal. In fact, it was the original definition of “diversity”.

        Don

      • I think the outrage is more about the motivation for Apple, which is about saving money not creating a better customer experience.
      • by Syberz ( 1170343 )
        There's quite a difference between not letting you use 3rd party parts and forcing you to buy necessary basic accessories separately...
      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        They should not include a charger for environmental reasons. Most people already have one. But they should also drop the drive by whatever the charger retails for, and they won't.

    • You can charge your iPhone will any USB adapter. Nearly everyone already has many of those.

      Most are not 20W, but a lower power adapter is actually better for battery health.

    • They're not including it because the EU are being babies about accessory cables.
      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward

        It may come to you as a surprise, seeing that you are an ignorant reactionary, but the EU has a pretty good reasoning here. You only really need to buy a charger once, with the first device that you buy that needs charging. From that point onwards every new charger you get goes into your cruft drawer before it ends up unceremoniously in the waste bin. Here in Europe we don't see the point of raping the planet to create mountains of toxic e-waste not even China will accept. Instead of trying to solve the imp

    • Dude their just reducing waste. I have so many useless headphones and chargers and cables in my house. I have an entire box of these little iPhone chargers which no one on my houses uses.

    • Separately sold monitor and laptop. All you will get is a pamphlet suggesting where to buy those optional accessories.

    • If true, it's a 2nd most ridiculous decision, after that monitor with separately-sold monitor support.

      In 2000 I'd have agreed with you on both accounts. But it's 2020 now. I've bought 3 new PCs which use the same monitor, so thank god they are sold separately, and I have fucking USB chargers lost in the cushions behind the couch. Seriously. I live in a country where cash is borderline abolished, so no more finding coins behind the couch, but I literally did find a black samsung charger behind there, and I don't even frigging know which device is belongs to. It says "fast charge" on it so I assume it belongs

    • "that monitor with separately-sold monitor support"

      For each monitor that I am currently using, I immediately threw the stand out when I got it. They were a waste.

    • What about removing the jack port?
  • by OverlordQ ( 264228 ) on Monday June 29, 2020 @05:11PM (#60244484) Journal

    Sounds pretty on-brand for Apple.

    • Sounds pretty on-brand for Apple.

      I'm not an apple user, but I think it's great not to include a charger. Until there's yet another standard I'm already set for life when it comes to chargers.

    • by fermion ( 181285 )
      I temper my first PowerBook. It included all the dongles, probably more than 5 extra items. In todayâ(TM)s dollars it was an $8,000 machine. I remember when macs started coming with nothing. But they was also under $3000.

      I have more headsets than I know what to do with. I have my pair of AirPods and would hate to pay for another just to get a phone.

      With all cables being USB C I am not sure who used a dedicated chargers. My USB adapters have USB charging ports. I think overall, espérate

    • It would be a step in the right direction. I mean anyone who needs the charger that comes with a phone should throw their nerd card in the bin, and then light the bin on fire. Seriously I never even unpacked my last charger.

    • AAPL are 1 away from " unobtainium" prices

    • The charger included so far is 1 Amp anyway. Apple had to choose between upgrading the charger in box, or removing the 1A inefficient one.
  • Put two coupons in the box. One for headphones, one for a charging plug.

    Less than 100% of the population will redeem these coupons. I certainly wouldn't. I don't need those things anymore. I literally have a drawer full of USB-A power plugs. I have USB plugs built into a wall octopus. I 100% do not need these, nor another set of EarPods that don't work in my ears.

    It would cut down on shipping weight, the size of the box, and the amount of wasted material. I know some people are starting to lose their shit over this, but honest to god, if you don't have a USB charging brick of some kind already, welcome to the future, time traveller. A lot has changed since 1982.

    • On the flip side, those first generation iPhone and iPad chargers from 2008 have to be wearing out by now. They are soon going to become a fire hazard.

      If someone wants a new USB charger, perhaps they should be sending back the old one first.

    • > Less than 100% of the population will ...

      So everyone? ;-)

      I'm not sure how it would be more then 100% of the population? :-)

      I know you probably meant: less then 10% or even less then 1%. :-)

      • No, I meant less than 100%, as I typed it. I am merely stating that no matter how many of these Apple puts in the boxes, they are guaranteed that not everyone will decide to redeem them, so it is a win no matter what. Even if all they are trying to do is pad out their margins, this will work and be less damaging from a PR standpoint. Right now it just makes them look cheap, even if it really is the better plan.

      • So everyone? ;-)

        100% = everyone.
          100% = not everyone.

        My wife is teaching math to 12 year olds if you want to join her class on Google Hangouts right now. Though I think the topic may be more advanced than this.

    • What if you don't? What if you're starting fresh for some reason? Maybe your house burned down, or you got divorced, or you just left home and are buying your own phone for the first time?

      Including an AC adaptor with which to charge your phone has been standard practice since cell phones stopped needing a giant battery pack with a shoulder strap.

    • Put two coupons in the box. One for headphones, one for a charging plug.

      Even better for Apple : the coupons would only be valid in a (physical) Apple Store...

  • arm mac will be limited to 1 screen and not have any keyboard / mouse in the box.

  • First, I don't own Apple. Can only speak to the chargers I've received from Android based phones over the year. Second, I can't speak for everyone else, but I have a crap ton of chargers as is. So while I'm sure there's a lot of folks that are not in my shoes here. I'm pretty good on receiving chargers for the foreseeable future.

    And yes, I own some that do the 9V-2A and/or 5V-3A stuff already. The 5V-1A ones, I've relegated as PSUs for breadboard projects.

    • by DewDude ( 537374 )
      My problem is I upgrade phones about once every two years or so...so the bulk of my chargers are the original 1.1A USB then I have two different "QuickCharge" chargers of different standards.
  • Can Fans voluntarily pay more to help Apple out? A $500 donation to the "Save Apple" fund perhaps?
    • I guess that Apple decided that their 200 billion dollar cash reserve wasn't quite big enough, so they needed to find another way to squeeze a few more dollars out each iPhone sale to improve their profit margins.

    • Can Fans voluntarily pay more to help Apple out?

      Isn't it what fans have already been doing for many years?

  • I sometimes use their charger, although I have bigger n better, like most people here do.

    But their cables are complete shit. What's the point of a 3 foot cable that wears through in 2-3 months?

    All my cables are 6 or 10 feet and last half of forever.

  • USB-C wall outlets (Score:4, Informative)

    by ljw1004 ( 764174 ) on Monday June 29, 2020 @05:39PM (#60244600)

    I upgraded several of power outlets in my house to include 30W USB-C charging ports:
    $37 - https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod... [amazon.com]

    I realistically only ever used to use my apple charger at home, and then only in a few places in the house. It's much nicer to be able to charge my family's devices (3 ipads for kids, 2 iphones for myself and my wife, 1 macbook air, 1 macbook pro) direct from the wall without loads of wall-warts. It's been kind of ridiculous, with each new device purchase, to just have to throw away its charger and headphones.

    Is 30W enough in the power outlet? -- I noticed that even the Apple power adapter that came with my Macbook Air had the same power rating, 30W USB-C:
    $49 - https://www.apple.com/shop/pro... [apple.com]

    • Sounds great until you read the reviews and discover it is only 30W when one port is plugged in. with two coords (not devices), it switches to 15W each.

      • You dont need to read the reviews for that, you just need to read the item description.

        • the description is vague, a layman wouldn't be able to decipher this.

          I'm assuming you meant the single port power and total charging power metrics.

          (q/a i group with reviews)

        • by ljw1004 ( 764174 )

          You dont need to read the reviews for that, you just need to read the item description.

          I don't think so? Nothing in the item description suggests that the mere presence of second plugged in cable, not even connected to a device, will drop the power delivered over the first plugged in cable that is attached to a device.

          • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            The description says "total charging power 30W" and "single power power 30W" so it is definitely shared between them.

            Hopefully it's shared properly because some cheap devices just start to see voltage sag when you exceed the limit, i.e. the controller doesn't re-negotiate with a device pulling 30W to say "sorry you only get 15W now".

          • This is a direct copy and paste from the Amazon page that was linked to above:

            - Single port connected to PD-enabled device: 15VDC@2A (30W) or 9VDC@3A (27W)
            - Single port connected to non-PD device: 5VDC@3A (15W)
            - Both ports connected to devices: 5VDC@3A (30W total power)

            Of course if you're in a hurry to find something to complain about I suppose reading the full product description might slow you down.

            • by ljw1004 ( 764174 )

              This is a direct copy and paste from the Amazon page that was linked to above:

              - Single port connected to PD-enabled device: 15VDC@2A (30W) or 9VDC@3A (27W)
              - Single port connected to non-PD device: 5VDC@3A (15W)
              - Both ports connected to devices: 5VDC@3A (30W total power)

              Of course if you're in a hurry to find something to complain about I suppose reading the full product description might slow you down.

              The question is, what happens if both ports have a cable plugged in, but only one of the two cables is connected to a PD-enabled device; the other is just loose and not connected to any device.

              Which of your three bullets does this scenario correspond to? Certainly not the last two. It sounds a lot like the first bullet, suggesting that the device will get 30W or 27W. But in reality it only gets 15W.

      • And? He has several outlets in his house. If he absolutely needed 30W he'd just unplug something else.

    • You just hid the warts inside the wall, when the next standard comes around next year you will have to change them all again! But I do get how nice it is to have something like that.

      I will assume they don't vampire your power bill, even unused things like that usually suck some power - especially if you went with ones that have bling bling leds. Yea yea 10ma, but hey it adds up. If they get warm at all when not in use then they are junk IMO.
      • by ljw1004 ( 764174 )

        You just hid the warts inside the wall, when the next standard comes around next year you will have to change them all again!

        True. I was replacing the USB-A wall outlets that I'd installed two years ago. (because I'd always forget to charge my kids' ipads, and then have to do it at the last minute, and the old 5W usb-A was far too slow but the new 30W usb-c is okay).

        What I'm hoping is that in 10 years or so I'll be able to install room-wide beam-formed wireless charging. It feels crazy having to plug in so many devices. I'd like to just have them charged up wherever I leave them in the room overnight.

      • You just hid the warts inside the wall, when the next standard comes around next year

        Let me stop you right there. I did what the GP did more than 8 years ago, though not USB C for obvious reasons. Guess what, every phone still charges just fine.

        So if your only complaint is that the GP is spending $45 on an outlet rather than wasting $45 on every single device, he'll still end up ahead even if your fantasy scenario eventuates.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      30W is a bit low even for the MacBook air. If you run the machine flat out the battery will slowly drain even when it's on the charger because the charger can't provide enough power for it. Also it's 30W for the two sockets, shared if you plug two devices in.

      One other thing, are those outlets safe with kids? Or even with adults after a few beers? It looks like the USB C cable could fit into the 120V outlet. British sockets have shutters to prevent that but US ones don't. It's a shame because the basic idea

  • Next, to save some more costs, the screen could be separately available.

    • The iPhone 13 will just be parts that you have to buy seperately (unlike Heathkit), and assemble them yourself. Hope your soldering skillz are up to par!

      • Ya right, apple would make individual part available; that road leads to repair shops fixing apples crap rather than apple selling you more crap.
        • Don't worry. They will build protections into everything to ensure you can't read anything off of the chips or repurpose the parts, and anybody who even thinks of using the parts for 3rd party repair will be sued into oblivion.

  • Just like the big network and cable companies. This is all about being able to advertise a lower price. Haha the fine print:

    Phone usage beyond 18 hours will require power adapter*.

    * Power adapter available at additional cost. No guarantee of availability or compatibility with 3rd party chargers.
    • The iPhone is $700 for the regular model. The cost of a charger to them is basically a rounding error.

  • Is he ever correct? Feels like he has been spouting falsehoods for 20 years and almost never right when he makes original predictions.

  • A box with only a certificate validating that you are an Apple owner. Because being able to say you're one of the cool kids is the only thing that counts, right?

  • After all chargers and headphones cost money. A charger can easily cost a whole dollar or even more. When you are selling millions of devices that amounts to millions of dollars.

    The people who buy this are buying it anyhow, so who cares?

    • It only saves money if it doesn't result in lost sales or doesn't result in increased customer support calls. For every customer that calls in complaining that there wasn't a charger in the box, they will be losing money.

      • Yes, but you can charge customers for support calls, so you can earn money that way. I mean we are talking about the Apple of 2020. It's not like in its original days where you could just call up and talk to the engineer who designed your computer... or trade in your computer for the latest model.

        While it may seem absurd to most of us to pay for chargers and adapters or pay a thousand dollars for a monitor stand, their target audience will happily do that.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • 1. Do not put a charger in every package. 2. Raise the unit price of a phone by two-three dollars, to cover all expenses. 3. Do not sell the charger - just give it away free with every iPhone purchase, for those who really need one, and ask for one. 4. Offer to buyback any Apple charger sold in the past (not in money, but give 5 dollars credit on any future Apple purchase). 5. Brag about saving the planet and about your environmental concerns. 6. Bask in the glory of being both successful and a good corpora
  • As long as they have a power cord to charge it and it'll connect to normal computers.

    However I don't think it's a good idea to have people connecting their phones to computers. Sounds like another possible vector to compromise the phone. Charger is safe as far as I know. As long as you're not using a stranger's charger.

  • Most iPhone-8 and newer models use wireless charging. Makes sense.
  • I can hear it now. "Our thinnest box ever and we think your gonna love it"

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