Apple wants to know if iPhone users are still using their original chargers

What do you do with the USB charger that comes included with your iPhone? Apple seems very keen to know. This follows rumours that the upcoming iPhone 12, due to be released later this year, will be the first iPhone to ship without the USB charger and EarPods.

According to a report from 9to5Mac, Brazillian Twitter user @Gunstaxl said the iPhone survey he received asked questions about what he did with the included USB charger of his previous iPhone after replacing it with a new model. 

9to5Mac translated his post from Portuguese, which says:

Apple survey that I received by email. Multiple questions about how I use the charger! Will we have an iPhone without a charger in the box?

It is evident that Apple is targeting its survey towards existing iPhone owners and those who recently purchased new phones, on how they used their iPhone chargers. The survey sent consisted of a number of checkboxes with multiple possibilities, this includes:

• Gave it to a family member or friend
• Recycled it
• Lost or misplaced it
• No longer working or not working well
• Still using it at home
• Still using it outside of my home (e.g., work, school, other location)
• Still have it, but don’t use it
• Sold it or traded it in with the ‌iPhone‌

It is not unusual for Apple to ask its customers what they think about their products. It had previously sent a survey asking about having a headphone jack on the MacBook Pro, possibly hinting its eventual removal. 

Apple’s rumoured move to remove the usual accessories that come standard with the iPhone has courted controversy. After our initial story about Apple’s move to exclude the charger and EarPods, as many Facebook commenters expressed their dissatisfaction at the prospect of buying a charger separately after spending so much on their smartphone.

Should Apple remove the USB charger and Earpods from the latest iPhone, this would help keep its packaging smaller and reduce its freight cost. In addition, it could also help Apple’s sustainability initiatives to cut down unnecessary waste considering most people can still reuse existing chargers that can last for an extended period of time.

There is a chance that Apple intends to introduce its own 20W fast-charger, as an upgrade over the current bundled 18W charger for the iPhone 11 Pro and iPad Pro 2020. From the image above, the charging brick still supports USB Power Delivery standard with an output of either 5V 3A or 9V 2.22A. This new charger could be an indication that the iPhone 12 might support a slightly faster 20W charging.

Apple currently sells the 18W USB-C charger for RM149 while the USB-C to lightning cable (1 metre) costs RM89. If you are curious how much a pair of wired EarPods with lightning connector costs, Apple sells them for RM129. The previously included 3.5mm adapter is also sold separately for RM49.

[SOURCE]

Related reading