Will iPhone 12 Without A Charger Really Save The Environment?
By: Fiaks Publisher
Tags: Charger, Environment, iPhone, Affordability, Apple

20-February-2021: Several Founders, Co-Founders, CXO Bankers, CXO Fintech professional & people who participated in the ePanel discussions:

Mr. Ajay B Panicker, CEO & Founder, NetPay Limited

CEO & Founder, NetPay Limited Mr. Kamonasish Aayush Mazumdar, Founder & CEO at Foodieverse

Founder & CEO at Foodieverse Mr. Shirsha Ghosh, Co-Founder Torit Innovations

Co-Founder Torit Innovations Mr. Hemal Shah, former Technical Product Manager, Mastercard

former Technical Product Manager, Mastercard Mr. Jayesh Shah, CEO, Prism Cybersoft Private Ltd

CEO, Prism Cybersoft Private Ltd Mr. Vikas R Panditrao, Co-Founder, Forum of Industry and Academic Knowledge Sharing (FIAKS)

Co-Founder, Forum of Industry and Academic Knowledge Sharing (FIAKS) Many other CEO/CXO Bankers & Fintech professionals on FIAKS Forum requested to remain anonymous

Here’s another breaking news that comes in 2020- “iPhone 12 phones ship without charger and earphones in the box, USB-C charger costs extra Rs. 1900” [1] Isn’t this hilarious?

Well, its said this is being done for the environmental good, here’s a good debate around it;

It’s a good thing done for environmental reasons. Almost nobody uses the original charger or headphones. A member mentions, “we have so many of those base chargers lying around, still in the pack, in the last 10 years, I have either used bose headphones and AirPods. Also, even if you don’t use AirPods, you inevitably have old AirPods and chargers. So, we also have atleast 15 pairs of new headphones lying around unused.”

Well, if it’s done for “ Environmental Reasons “, at least charge less (the charger/headphone amount). There are many Apple users who use the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) charger/headphones only. Everyone can’t pay for fancy headphones!

“, at least charge less (the charger/headphone amount). There are many Apple users who use the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) charger/headphones only. Everyone can’t pay for fancy headphones! Speaking in the Indian context, where the average monthly salary is less than the iPhone price, and people save up months to buy an iPhone. This doesn’t apply to the majority of the world. Even if you are a janitor at Mcdonald’s, a top-end iPhone is not even your 1 months’ salary. Premium brands are not in the affordability business. No other phone brand comes even close to the actual hardware quality of apple. Even other premium phones and other brands have a cheap plasticky feel. Many things to blame them for, but still they have an upper hand on their processing power and hardware. So, where is the comparison?

where the average monthly salary is less than the iPhone price, and people save up months to buy an iPhone. This doesn’t apply to the majority of the world. Even if you are a janitor at Mcdonald’s, a top-end iPhone is not even your 1 months’ salary. Premium brands are not in the affordability business. No other phone brand comes even close to the actual hardware quality of apple. Even other premium phones and other brands have a cheap plasticky feel. Many things to blame them for, but still they have an upper hand on their processing power and hardware. So, where is the comparison? In a market like India, people are ready to pay 3 months’ salary to buy an Apple phone because of its aspirational value too. It’s not like there’s much you can do on an Apple phone, then you can’t do on a Xiaomi phone, at 1/10th the cost. Affordability is never the priority. The more expensive it is, the more people will want it

In India, for an average person, an iPhone is probably the most expensive item in his house more than his bike or TV or maybe even more than his annual rent. A member adds, “in 2018, I had an entry-level employee earning just 40k/month who bought an iPhone and warranty, etc.. for 1.25 lakhs, while paying 10k rent, it was an eye-opener for me, realizing this is a rather common situation in India today, especially so among the entry-level tech community.”

Here is what Apple believes and most of us should too: if we are worried about the charger price being more, we certainly can’t afford the iPhone, so we shouldn’t bother, nor shouldn’t Apple. Apple has been very clear about all this since Jobs died, at the least. In a way, they are not wrong. The user segmentation takes care of itself because of price.

And the debate continues…;

It’s not about the money. It’s about necessity. Forget headphones, a charger is a necessity. Every year all companies increase their charging speed from 5W to 12W to 18W to 30W to 65W. If someone is using an old generation charger, he can’t use the latest charging speed. This makes him bound to buy a charger where he already paid $1000 to $1500 for a phone, which has a BOM (bill of materials) cost of ~$300

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