The iPhone 12 Power Adapter Controversy
Apple is the only company that sells a phone without an included charger.
On October 13, 2020, Apple announced the iPhone 12. At the same keynote, Apple announced that the iPhone 12 will no longer come with a charger. As expected, this move was not well received by the tech community.
Environment.
As of the iPhone 12, Apple will only include a lightning to USB-C cable in the box. Apple is doing that to reduce waste. According to Apple users already have 700 million lightning headphones and over 2 billion power adapters, that’s not even counting 3rd party power adapters. That’s a lot of waste.
By removing the lightning headphones and power adapters from the box, Apple claims that they can reduce carbon emissions and the mining of precious materials. The removal of these items makes the iPhone boxes smaller. Allowing Apple to fit 70% more iPhone in a shipping pallet. Thus, reducing carbon emission in its global logistic chain.
Apple estimates that these changes will result in a reduction of 2 million tons of carbon emission annually. For context, the United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that a typical passenger vehicle produces close to 4.6 tons of carbon emissions. That means Apple effectively removed the carbon emissions of about 450,000 cars annually.
Reception.
These changes were met with mixed reception from the tech community.
Some people believe that these changes are good. They already have tons of power adapters in a drawer somewhere. They just don’t need any more power adapters. Therefore, this move does indeed reduce waste.
The majority of the tech community however responded negatively to these changes. Claiming that if Apple was indeed environmentally conscious, they should have included a lightning to USB-A cable instead of a lightning to USB-C cable. This is because most people don’t have a USB-C power adapter. Excluding the iPhone 11 Pro, Apple has always shipped power adapters with USB-A ports. This means that most people are forced to buy a new power adapter.
Ecosystem.
The problem with that statement is that they are talking about the iPhone in isolation. They conveniently ignored the fact that most people will have more than one Apple device. Perhaps, an iPad or a Mac or even an older iPhone. They fail to take into consideration what Apple is known for, The Ecosystem.
If you have an iPod, iPhone, or iPad, the cable that comes with the iPhone doesn’t really matter. These devices all use the lightning port. So, it is likely for you to have a couple of lightning cables lying around. Those cables will work just fine with the iPhone 12.
If you have a Mac or iPad Pro, the lightning to USB-C cable included with the iPhone 12 is actually a nice addition. The power adapters for these devices have a USB-C port, so you will be able to charge your new iPhone. But there’s more. Since there are only USB-C ports on the Mac or iPad you can now connect your iPhone 12 to the Mac or iPad with the cable that’s included in the box. No more 3rd party accessories. One famous criticism of the Apple Ecosystem is that you can’t connect your iPhone to the Mac using the cable included in the box. Not anymore!
Imagine if instead of a lightning to USB-C cable, Apple included a lightning to USB-A cable with the iPhone 12. That cable will work fine with most existing Apple power adapters but it won’t work with your Mac or iPad Pro or their power adapters. The net result is that you are more unlikely to be able to charge your brand-new iPhone 12.
I don’t think that including a lightning to USB-C cable with the iPhone 12 is Apple attempting to force users into buying a new power adapter. On the contrary, it makes it more likely that you can charge your new iPhone with your current equipment/devices. This move is brilliant because Apple is not giving you something you are already likely to have (lightning to USB-A cable) but instead something that you likely don’t have.
Android.
Before we move on to the next section, I just want to quickly touch on the Android situation.
Since 2017, most Android phones use USB-C. It is highly likely that these phones will come with USB-C power adapters. If these users switch to iPhone, they won’t need to buy a new power adapter. Because the iPhone 12, comes with a lightning to USB-C cable.
Price.
Protecting the environment is only one of the benefits of removing the lightning headphones and power adapter. Removing these items allows Apple to sell iPhones at a lower price. This is hard to notice given that the iPhone 12 is $130 more expensive when compared to the equivalent iPhone 11. Yes, the iPhone 12 is more expensive but it provides better value. The iPhone 12 is equipped with an OLED display, a much-needed upgrade over the aging iPhone 11 LCD. It also comes with 5G. Not just the sub-6 variant but the mmWave variant as well. These features more than make up for the price increase.
For a better picture, let’s look at the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max. At a glance, the Pros cost the same as the equivalent iPhone 11 Pros of yesteryear. But the iPhone 12 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro Max come with 128GB of storage by default. That is a $50 value based on how much it costs to upgrade from 64GB to 128GB on the iPhone 12. The 256GB and 512 GB models are also $50 cheaper when compared to the equivalent iPhone 11 Pros. Meaning, regardless of which storage option you choose you will save $50.
But there’s more.
You get 5G connectivity with sub-6 and mmWave support. That is a $100 value based on how much it cost to upgrade the Pixel 4a 5G from sub-6 to mmWave. And don’t forget you are also getting a larger display for both models., 6.1” for the iPhone 12 Pro and 6.7” for the iPhone 12 Pro Max.
So, regardless of which iPhone 12 Pro you buy, you are getting more than $150 in extra value when compared to the equivalent iPhone 11 Pros. That is a rare sight in the world of ever-rising flagship prices. At the end of the day, I would much rather Apple leave out the lightning headphones and power adapter if it means that I get better iPhones for less.
Having said that, it’ll be wrong to ignore the elephant in the room. Of course, I am talking about 5G. 5G is not yet widely available. Even in areas with coverage, 5G is not that much faster when compared to 4G. And don’t even get me started on mmWave. I don’t see the point in using mmWave. You have to be really close to the 5G tower to get mmWave and even then, wouldn’t WiFi make more sense?
If we ignore 5G completely, the iPhone 12 lineup is still a better value than last year’s iPhone 11 lineup albeit by a fairly slim margin.
Trade-Offs.
As previously stated, by not including a pair of lightning headphones and a power adapter Apple can significantly reduce carbon emissions and the mining of precious materials. I believe these changes are well-intentioned. But when you look at the reactions of the tech community you start to notice something. These changes are confusing.
The removal of these items makes it more difficult to buy an iPhone. It makes the buying decision more complicated than it should be. Instead of buying an iPhone and having everything just work. Now people need to consider if they can charge their devices. It is not hard to imagine a situation in which someone somewhere was not able to charge their brand-new iPhone 12.
Is it wise to complicate the customer experience to achieve better environmental friendliness?
I believe that’s a worthy trade-off because I care about the environment. This is, after all, the only home we have.
But is it worth it for Apple?
I don’t know. That’s why I am eagerly awaiting Apple’s next quarterly financial call.
Your thoughts?
