In the days before the release of a phone or a phone series, I don't like to write about the upcoming release, as it's only a few days before all the information is out, but there is one piece of news that I have to report.
Apple usually dictates the mobile phone market, there is no denying that, you only have to look at a few examples:
2016 - Apple dropped the jack connector. Much maligned for this decision, a few years have passed and even parody phone maker Samsung has abandoned the jack connector on its top phones.
2017 - The iPhone X is released, and the main new feature was the small cavity and notch, and although there were a few small cafe phones before it, such as the Mi Mix, it's clear that Apple made it fashionable.
2020 - Skip ahead a few years, Apple has decided to drop the charging head from the iPhone 12 series box for various reasons. In fact, it's taking it out of the box of older devices as well. There was a huge outcry and joking around the decision, which has quietly stopped, and there were, who have changed their minds. Xiaomi also got involved in the decision, and more small trolling viccelte and Apple and its customers.
It took a little over 2 months to Xiaomi CEO, Xiaomi's CEO, announced on his official Weibo page that the Mi 11 will not include a charger in the box, citing environmental concerns as the reason.
What can I say, while I can imagine that Samsung didn't know in 2017 that they would decide to drop the jack from the S20 in 2020, I find it hard to believe that Xiaomi engineers didn't know just 2 months before the launch of the Mi 11 series that it would not have a charger. I understand that marketing has to go, but I think this is a cheek on their part, seeing as they were overly proud with the Mi 10T Pro to include a 33W charging head with the phone.
And now let's talk a little bit about how good it is, how bad it is, where the truth is.
Since I already summarised my thoughts on the subject in an article I wrote 2 months ago, some of the sentences may sound familiar to our regular readers.
Per
Pollution is reaching unprecedented levels and is one of the most serious problems worldwide. Every new phone comes with a new charger head, and although Xiaomi doesn't, many manufacturers provide earphones. Apple has argued that what's the point? In the company's view, every household has a bunch of charging heads, everyone has their own earphones, there's no need to add x+1 to a new phone. By reducing the number of accessories, Apple is selling its products in a smaller box with 70%. That, and by dropping the accessories, they estimate that they are reducing their metric carbon emissions by 2 million tonnes per year, the equivalent of 450,000 cars per year. Xiaomi is likely to make similar statements on Monday.
Contra
"Come on." Xiaomi's top-of-the-range range is getting more expensive every year, with the latest rumours suggesting that the 8/128 GB version of the Mi 11 will start at 4,500 yuan, or 204,000 forints, in China. The same version of the Mi 10 will start at 4000 yuan, then 178 thousand forints. The ongoing weakening of the forint will add another shovelful to the prices, and considering that the Mi 10's European launch price was 800 euros, 285 thousand forints, the Mi 11's launch price will probably be around 300 thousand forints. For that kind of money, you can get a 20-year-old Suzuki Swift in mint condition you can buy. At this price, are they really unable to include a charger with the device?
The truth is somewhere in between
Although, if you have had many phones in the family, you are bound to find a phone charger lying around, but still, basically 1 charger comes with 1 phone, and, if it is not an accessory, in the spirit of environmental awareness, it should also mean that, unless the phone is broken, if you replace it, you sell or resell it, which in turn comes with the charger.
The other option is to charge from a laptop, but you're not going to turn on your laptop at night just because you have your phone on 11%, and, while it's true that some laptops have USB ports that are powered off, this is still a hassle.
Conclusion
Reducing waste and emissions is an example to follow, but not like this. I think the right way for all manufacturers, including Xiaomi, is that if someone doesn't need an accessory, they shouldn't get it unnecessarily. Of course, this is not black and white either, a comment below Xiaomi's video reminded me that the brutal 120W charging technology that debuted in the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra, for example, cannot be exploited with an older charging head.
Solution
The solution, I think, would be to have a charging head and cable for a phone at the basic price, but the stores should make it a priority to offer it on an order, so that if the customer doesn't need it (even though it might slow down the charging), they can leave these accessories out, and should give a discount to the manufacturers.
