Lei Jun, the CEO of Chinese phone maker Xiaomi, confirmed that his next Mi 11 phone will not come with a charger, citing environmental concerns. While this is a legitimate argument against supplying yet another piece of plastic that looks like all the other chargers people already own, Xiaomi joined other phone makers that scoffed at Apple a few months ago for not including chargers on the iPhone 12.
Jun commented on the Chinese social media site Weibo, saying that people have too many chargers, which creates an environmental impact, and therefore the company was canceling the Mi 11 charger.
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Apple’s decision not to include chargers with the iPhone 12 was met with some derision, and competitors like Samsung reminded customers in an announcement that charging blocks were “included in their Galaxy”. This Galaxy announcement has apparently been deleted, however, as rumors continue to grow that Samsung will not include a charger with its upcoming Galaxy S21 phones.
Shortly after the launch of the iPhone 12, Xiaomi tweeted that it “left nothing out of the box” for its Mi 10T Pro, adding a small video clip showing a Mi 10T box with a charger inside. Perhaps the conclusion here is that companies should keep the marketing team informed of future product decisions.
There is, in fact, a strong environmental argument for not including superfluous chargers with new phones, especially if the chargers are identical to the dozens of others that most people already own. But it seems that, as phone makers continue to raise prices for their new devices, they are somehow finding ways to give customers less – no headphone connectors, no recharges – than before.
The next step is simply to end the box and deliver new phones to customers in bubble wrap, or perhaps in paper bags? I think we’ll find out.