By Bronson Jayamanna
Beijing, China (CWBN)_ Lei Jun, the head of Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi, confirmed that it would not be bundling a charger with the upcoming Mi 11 due to environmental concerns. Although this is a valid argument against providing yet another block of plastic that many consumers already have, it was just a couple of months ago that Xiaomi and other phone manufacturers decided to make fun of Apple who initiated this practice.
In a translated version of the original Chinese post, Jun said the change was “a response to the call of technology and environmental protection”. He also announced that further consideration of the decision would occur at the media briefing scheduled for December 28.
Apple initially drew mockery when it announced in October that the iPhone 12 would drop the charger and headphones which have historically been bundled with previous Apple devices. Samsung and OnePlus joined Xiaomi to ridicule Apple at the time.
However, as bundled chargers and earphones are essentially similar and possessed by large numbers of people who have previously purchased devices from the same family of devices. This has made these accessories a significant contributor to the rising issue of electronic waste.
On the other hand, not everybody has previously owned a device that came with bundled accessories. The decision to abandon these essential pieces places an extra economic burden on the would-be consumers, mainly because the removal didn’t exactly equate to reduced prices. The base iPhone 11 launched at $699, but the charger-free iPhone 12 pushed that cost tag up to $799. It’s similar to Xiaomi’s Mi 10 to Mi 11, with the newer edition costing around $100 extra.
Before Christmas, Samsung caught equal backlash to the obvious withdrawal of the Apple-mocking ad as rumours indicate that its new Galaxy S21 will also drop the previously bundled charger.
Apple’s leadership in the mobile technology world is illustrated in several respects. Looking back to the company’s suggestion, that killing the headphone jack on a smartphone was a “courageous” decision. This too attracted taunts at that time as competitors used their headphone jacks’ continued existence as a marketing tool. However, many of those same rivals adopted Apple’s thinking in following product launches.
The consumers are the ones who lose out. Just like people had to go out to deal with cumbersome adapters and premium Bluetooth headset purchases back then, many are soon going to be forced to spend on an essential charger. As much as there might be a green case for abandoning these items, it’s clear to see consumers’ dissatisfaction when any improvements are not mirrored in product prices.
