The rationale was simple. But it’s not that simple. While removing in-box chargers will limit consumption, the adoption of universal chargers will enable a longer-term and broader solution, says Kees Baldé, senior program officer in the United Nations University’s Sustainable Cycles program. Here’s every single standard compared, There are 2 things I really don’t like about the new 24-inch iMac, Apple HomePod mini review: Finally, the smart speaker Apple needs, Apple Spring Loaded event: Everything new announced today, Best Prime Day iPhone Deals 2021: What to expect, Best cheap iPhone 12 deals for April 2021: iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro, Best cheap iPhone 11 deals for April 2021, The best iPhone games currently available (April 2021), ZTE’s new Axon 30 Ultra takes normal, wide, and zoom photos all at the same time, G-Shock makes a splash with new Royal Navy x Frogman special-edition dive watch. From an optics perspective, it seems less equal. “We know that customers have been accumulating USB power adapters and that producing millions of unneeded adapters consumes resources and adds to our carbon footprint. A lot of current iPhone chargers won’t work: The cable that comes in the box with your iPhone 12 is a Lightning-to-USB-C … Anker CEO Steven Yang believes the figure is far too greater, however, and somewhere in the vicinity of 300,000 tons (for all kinds of in-box chargers, even the one power drills come with). Therefore, keeping wall chargers with the most expensive Apple Watches isn't going to make an enormous impact on the environment. But, if Apple was still including a wall charger in its packaging, those emissions would go away. Apple’s decision to remove the earphones and charger in select iPhone models has raised many eyebrows. E-waste is not the only concern. (tweet this). Apple’s environmentally conscious redesign has extended beyond corporate offices and malls. In comparison, Samsung was rated a D-minus, Amazon got an F, and Google received a D-plus. Apple has lobbied against a bill that would allow people to easily repair their devices with official material and spare parts. So they’ve created a repair monopoly, so they can control the price of repairs,” iFixit’s Olivia Webb told Digital Trends. In a statement, earlier this year, Apple said that it believes “regulation that forces conformity across the type of connector built into all smartphones stifles innovation rather than encouraging it, and would harm consumers in Europe and the economy as a whole.”, “Smartphones account for a significant chunk of e-waste globally and their greenhouse gas footprint has tripled in the last decade.”. The iPhone 12 comes with a USB-C to Lightning cable, which isn't compatible with the iPhone 11  or the iPad Pro. But, there's no way to know how many people don't have these leftover items from previous iPhones. Will Apple’s ‘eco-friendly’ plan to nix chargers actually help the environment? Can Apple and the rest of the industry come up with a more consumer-friendly plan to save the planet? Apple is producing them and selling them for $19 each. It has repeatedly pushed back against an EU legislature which seeks to mandate the use of USB Type-C ports. Apple has removed the charger and headphones from the box of all iPhones on sale since the launch of the iPhone 12. Responsible sourcing of wood fibre is defined in Apple… Anker’s Yang tells Digital Trends that his company is “designing a new generation of USB-C chargers that can receive firmware updates via USB-C” and can be automatically upgraded to work with any future fast-charging protocols. This is especially worrying given Apple now offers a Type-C port on its other products like the iPad and the MacBook — leaving Apple buyers no choice other than to carry multiple cables, chargers, and dongles. Apple responded by reiterating its environmental angle, arguing that it would reduce CO2 emissions and rare earth mining. Apple’s decision to skip the charger and EarPods sounds like a step that would reduce the company's environmental footprint. Most buyers presumably already own a charger — possibly dozens in a drawer somewhere — and they don’t need another. It’s also worth noting that Apple’s removal of the adapter will lead to more compact packaging, which cuts down on production and transportation-related emissions. Last month, Apple unveiled a range of new iPads and Apple Watch smartwatches. This means that with the sole exception of consumers who purchased the iPhone 11 Pro or iPhone Pro Max, the cable in the box is pretty useless unless you have a laptop with USB-C port or a USB-C charger.. Read the FAQs. Apple was able to conserve 8.61 lakh tons of copper, zinc and metal by not giving out charging adapters with its iPhones, the firm stated in its Environmental Progress Report. Only time will tell. By encouraging people to take advantage of and reuse the accessories they have at home, Apple says it will cut back on chargers in circulation and production — thereby reducing its carbon footprint and environmental impact. Additionally, Apple can still make its claims of reducing carbon emissions, even if consumers increase the number of accessories they purchase from a third-party supplier. Apple says this move “and helping partners reduce carbon footprint will result in eliminating the carbon equivalent of over 50,000 cars from our roads per year.”. Given that a typical passenger vehicle releases about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, this translates into 230 kilotons CO2 conservation. Let's go through some of the potential issues with Apple's claim one-by-one: With 700 million pairs of EarPods and two billion power adapters out there, some iPhone 12 buyers undoubtedly already had some sitting around. When you look at this in simply the Apple Watch’s context, it doesn’t seem like much. Copyright ©2021 Designtechnica Corporation. By Shubham Agarwal October 7, 2020 Last month, Apple unveiled a range of new iPads and Apple … Apple confirms new iPhone 12 WON’T have a charger or headphones in the box ‘to help the environment’ Harry Pettit , Senior Digital Technology and Science Reporter Oct 13 2020, 13:19 ET Power adapters use the largest amounts of certain materials, including plastic, copper, tin, and zinc. Unfortunately, exact numbers are nearly impossible to come by. Apple isn’t alone either. In spite of that, however, this is a step in the right direction. Last year Apple announced that it won’t be providing chargers with iPhones which gave rise to chaos. “The environmental impacts of shipping products around the globe are substantial,” Richard Neitzel, associate professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Michigan told Digital Trends. Apple’s Lightning to USB Cable. Apple’s move was aimed at reducing the environmental impact of its technology products. And while taking away the in-box adapter may seem like a trivial step for tackling the world’s growing e-waste crisis, it could still have a sizable effect on the planet in more ways than one. Energy consumption and energy efficiency values are based on the ENERGY STAR Program Requirements for Computers. “We calculate that there are over 4 billion chargers being shipped annually with over 95% being shipped with new mobile devices. Fairphone’s assessment, for instance, revealed that the “use of a smartphone for five to seven years can reduce CO2 emissions by around 30-45% for the whole life cycle.”. One would need to determine an estimate of emissions released per 1,000 iPhones sold, plus emissions per 1,000 chargers or EarPods sold, and then calculate if the emissions cost of the newly sold items is significantly lower than keeping those accessories in the original packaging as usual. Here’s why Apple isn’t including EarPods and chargers with the iPhone 12. Apple says that power adapters use the largest amounts of certain … Since removing them from iPhone and Apple Watch packaging last year, we’ve avoided mining a significant amount of materials from the earth, and we’ve eliminated the emissions that come from processing and transporting them. The company took one step toward getting there in October 2020, when it announced that it would no longer include chargers or wired earbuds with the new iPhone 12. “We need to restore the expectation that consumers have that when you buy something, you should be able to fix it and keep using it,” he added in an email to Digital Trends. Apple confirms new iPhone 12 WON’T have a charger or headphones in the box ‘to help the environment’ Harry Pettit , Senior Digital Technology and Science Reporter 13 Oct 2020, 18:41 1 goal here. According to the Environmental Progress Report published by Apple, it was able to save 8.61 lakh tons of copper, zinc and metal by not including the charging adapter in the iPhone box. Since EarPods and chargers are smaller and less expensive than a new phone, those products are more likely to get lost and need to be replaced. If you spent any time doomscrolling, Explainer: The rise of the Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) model, Guns, Race, and Corporal Punishment: How American attitudes have changed over the decades, Four things we STILL don't know about COVID-19. Buying an iPhone is still a luxury for most middle-class Indians but when they do buy it, they expect it to at least come with a charging adapter if not the earphones. Experts say that emissions due to shipping won't really reduce if more phones can fit onto a single pallet, as Apple claims. But Apple is rumored to do the same with the next iPhone 12 series. iFixit, which gave the Apple AirPods a repairability score of 0 out of 10, echoes the sentiment: “Manufacturers don’t want you to fix your stuff — they want you to buy new products. “Somewhere we need to start.”. Since power adapters produce an estimated 600-900kt CO2e annually, Apple is claiming to bring that number down by 30%. In fact, recently the signature of the bitten apple logo revealed some very interesting facts about how removing the charger from the iPhone 12 models has benefited the environment of our planet. The Right-to-Repair law will, in addition to resulting in longer-lasting products, shorten smartphone upgrade cycles, and the number of phones companies have to produce and ship every year. Join our daily newsletter to stay up-to-date with the latest news in business, tech, and venture capital at Inside.com, Header image: David Dvořáček on Unsplash The rise of BNPL The Buy, Header image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says his company's, Image credit: Tim Gouw on Unsplash. Apple has set a goal to become completely carbon neutral by 2030. Apple explains environmental benefit behind eliminating chargers from iPhone, Apple Watch For people speculating different reasons behind Apple's decision to remove chargers from last year launched iPhone, iWatch packaging, the company has got an answer for you, and it is for the positive impact on the environment. Like any other electronic appliance, power adapters go through a cycle. Apple’s decision to no longer include wall chargers and earbuds in its new iPhone 12 boxes is good for business, but just how good it will be for … Upgrade your lifestyleDigital Trends helps readers keep tabs on the fast-paced world of tech with all the latest news, fun product reviews, insightful editorials, and one-of-a-kind sneak peeks.Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. But, there's a lot more to it than that, and Apple's contributions might be both a drop in the bucket in terms of environmental impact and come with some unintended consequences. And that's not even considering the environmental cost of additional e-waste and packaging waste. On top of all this, there’s also the question of repairability. “Sometimes it’s not what we make, but what we don’t make that counts,” proclaimed Lisa Jackson, Apple’s VP of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives at the virtual “Time Flies” event. By not giving a charger, Apple said that it reduced the size of the iPhone box which further made the whole packaging process more efficient. Eliminating the headphones and charger in the packaging, and increasing sales from people who are willing to buy these products anyway, could even out the cost for Apple and help it maintain its hefty operating margins. But while Apple has taken a commendable leap — which most likely will soon become an industry-standard — analysts argue the Cupertino, California-company, at the same time, has also refused to adopt and often lobbied against obvious climate-friendly initiatives when there’s a potential chance of that hurting its business. Apple has set a goal to become completely carbon neutral by 2030. Further, research commissioned by the European Union last year to assess the impact of mandating a common charger for manufacturers, said mobile phone chargers are “responsible for around 11,000 – 13,000 tons of e-waste per year.”. After Apple, Samsung followed suit after initially criticising the iPhone maker, which is why the Galaxy S21 series ships without a … The benefit of doing so has been outlined in Apple's Environmental Progress Report for 2021. Customers, not Apple which is a $2 trillion company, who still need a charger will have to spend an extra $19 (or so) out of their own pockets to buy something they used to get for free in the box. All rights reserved. But during the announcement, Apple said that they are going back to its MagSafe charger. The tech behind this is known to be highly inefficient and consumes a lot more energy than wired systems. So this year, we are removing the USB power adapter from Apple Watch.”. That’s a tiny weight difference, but when we’re talking millions of products sold, those grams start to add up. Apple's charger-less iPhone 12 is the star of its latest environmental report. Extending their life by even a couple of months can prove instrumental in curtailing that soaring graph. This represents an estimated 300,000 tons of e-waste generated every year,” he told Digital Trends. Apple further highlights that it is now using 40% recycled content in the MacBook Air, with 99% recycled tungsten being used in iPhone 12 and Apple Watch Series 6. This suspicion grows stronger when you consider Apple originally was bundling a power adapter with the premium versions of the Apple Watch Series 6. The company took one step toward getting there in October 2020, when it announced that it would no longer include chargers or wired earbuds with the new iPhone 12. Anyone who's purchasing their first iPhone – or hasn't upgraded since before the iPhone 7 came out in 2016 – will need Lightning headphones, as new iPhones don't have a traditional headphone jack. The packaging of each phone may be smaller, but this won't do much to defray the carbon costs of shipping, Behdad argues. Baldé is of the opinion that tech companies have failed to “set up producer responsibility schemes in countries to collect the e-waste of the products” and “to design their equipment such that it is repairable, durable, designed for recycling and fit for novel circular business models.”, Nathan Proctor, director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s campaign for the Right to Repair, who has spent the last couple of years advocating for better repairability in gadgets, calls for the need of new rules “that require every tech company, whether they be a giant or whether they be small, to make products that are repairable, that reduce their ecological footprint.”. Even if the direct impact is not substantial, adds Kuehr, this could help psychologically build up awareness. There's ample reason to believe that a significant number of that 700 million and two billion, respectively, are already filling up landfills as e-waste, and another big chunk are the USB-A standard, which won't be compatible with new iPhones. By Daniel Petrov. Every one of these stages is responsible for producing swathes of harmless gases that pollute the climate. “Use of a smartphone for five to seven years can reduce CO2 emissions by around 30-45% for the whole life cycle.”. Needing to make separate purchases is especially probable in emerging economies like India, where iPhone 12 buyers will be even less likely to already have a compatible charger. The iPhone 12 series released last year was the first for which this was the case. Apple ships more than 200 million iPhones and 50 million Apple Watches annually — which means, over time once all models on sale forgo the in-box charger, more than 200 million fewer adapters will be manufactured saving tons of e-waste. It’s just been executed poorly. Combined with its move to use only recycled rare earth elements in all magnets in the iPhone 12, Apple says it will keep 2 million metric tons of carbon emissions out of the atmosphere each year. In theory, at least, Apple’s arguments make sense and could be that necessary nudge that puts an end to the charger-hoarding habits most of us are guilty of. iMac redesign is a window into Apple’s future, research commissioned by the European Union, Apple is rumored to do the same with the next iPhone 12 series, Samsung is said to be considering abandoning in-box chargers, New Google Maps features offer a preview of doom-conscious tech, Modular laptops won’t save the planet, but manufacturers should pay attention, Don’t worry, the OnePlus 9 will come with a fast charger in the box, How does fast charging work? EarPods (or AirPods) and wall chargers need to be purchased separately, leveling out a chunk of those 2 million metric tons of carbon emissions Apple claims to be eliminating. Apple has revealed the environmental impact of selling the iPhone without a charger in the box. Save 10% off Samsung Galaxy Buds, Beats, and more with this coupon – today only! So, it’s equally possible this decision simply the result of a cost-saving strategy for the lower-end models. From the supply chain to transportation to ultimately getting recycled or thrown away. Sara Behdad, an associate professor at the University of Florida's Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment, says that shipping phones on a pallet is based on demand, not on the number of total phones that can fit. 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