Apple fined $1.9 million
In October 2020, Apple released its new iPhone 12 series. One of the features of the four new models is that they no longer come with chargers and headphones. Apple’s explanation is that since the global ownership of accessories such as power adapters has reached billions, the new accessories that come with them are often idle, so the iPhone product line will no longer come with these accessories, which will reduce carbon emissions and the exploitation and use of rare raw materials.
However, Apple’s move is not only hard for many consumers to accept, but also received a ticket. Apple has been fined $1.9 million in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for its decision to remove the power adapter from the box of the new iPhone and mislead customers about the waterproof performance of the iPhone.
“Should a new mobile phone come with a charging head?” After the news of Apple’s punishment was reported, the discussion about mobile phone charger rushed to the topic list of sina Weibo. Among 370000 users, 95% thought the charger was standard, and only 5% thought it was reasonable to give it or not, or that it was a waste of resources.
“It’s harmful to consumers without charging head. The normal use rights and interests are damaged, and the use cost is also increasing.” Many netizens suggested that mobile phone manufacturers should let consumers take the initiative to choose whether they need it or not, rather than “one size fits all”.
Several models follow up to cancel charger
Will selling mobile phones without charger become a new trend? At present, the market is still under observation. So far, three mobile phone manufacturers have followed up this policy in the new models.
Samsung released its Galaxy S21 series flagship in January this year. For the first time, the charger and headset are removed from the packaging box, and only the charging cable is attached. In early March, Meizu 18 series mobile phones released by Meizu cancelled the attached charger on the ground of “one more unnecessary charger”, but launched a recycling scheme, in which two used chargers can replace one of the official original chargers of Meizu.
On the evening of March 29, the new Xiaomi 11 Pro is divided into three versions: the Standard Version, the package version and the super package version. The standard version also does not include chargers and headphones. Different from Apple’s approach, Xiaomi gives consumers a variety of choices: if you already have a lot of chargers on hand, you can buy the standard version without a charger; if you need a new charger, you can choose the charging package version, with a standard 67 watt fast charging head, worth 129 yuan, but still 0 yuan; in addition, there is a super package version of 199 yuan, with an 80 watt wireless charging stand.
“Most people have bought more than one mobile phone. There are many chargers at home, and many free chargers are idle.” Xiang Ligang, an independent Telecom observer, said that as the smartphone market enters the era of stock exchange, selling mobile phones without chargers may gradually become a direction.
Fast charging standards need to be unified
The most direct advantage is that it can reduce the generation of e-waste. As Samsung said, many users like to reuse the existing chargers and headphones, and new chargers and headphones will only be left in the packaging. They believe that removing chargers and headphones from packaging can reduce the accumulation of unused accessories and avoid waste.
However, consumers find that at least at this stage, they often have to buy another charger after buying a new mobile phone. “When the old charger recharges the iPhone 12, it can only achieve 5 watts of standard charging power, while the iPhone 12 supports 20 watts of fast charging.” Ms. sun, a citizen, said that in order to experience more efficient charging speed, she first spent 149 yuan to buy an official 20 Watt charger from apple, and then spent 99 yuan to buy a 20 Watt charger certified by Greenlink, “one for home and one for work.” Data show that a number of Apple third-party charger brands ushered in a monthly sales growth of more than 10000 at the end of last year.
If the mobile phone brand is changed, even if the old charger supports fast charging, it may not run fast on the new model. For example, Huawei’s super fast charging and Xiaomi’s super fast charging both have 40 watts of power, but when Huawei’s fast charging charger is used to charge Xiaomi’s mobile phone, it can only achieve 10 watts of ordinary charging. In other words, only when the charger and mobile phone are of the same brand can consumers experience the pleasure of “charging for a few minutes and talking for a few hours”.
“As the fast charging agreements of major mobile phone manufacturers have not yet reached a unified standard, it is difficult for users to enjoy the experience of” one charger goes all over the world. ” Xiang Ligang said that at present, there are nearly ten mainstream public and private fast charging agreements on the market. In the future, only when the standards of fast charging protocol are unified can users really get rid of the worry about charging adaptation. “Of course, it will take time for the protocol to be completely unified. Before that, high-end mobile phones should also be equipped with chargers.”
Post time: Apr-02-2020