If you’ve bought Apple products in the past few years, you’ve probably noticed they ship with the bare minimum. Whether you ordered an Apple Series Ultra 2 Watch or the iPhone 15 with its evolving benefits, you probably noticed it didn’t come with a wall charger or headphones — the things that used to come standard with many Apple devices. Your first thought may be the brand is just trying to make extra money by forcing users to buy these items separately, but the company says it has done so as a part of a larger effort to become carbon neutral by 2023.
Not including a charger reduces the size of the box your Apple product ships in and encourages users to reuse existing accessories, which could reduce electronic waste. Apple has received a lot of praise from environmentalists about its move. Still, some have questioned whether these changes will result in an actual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions or if Apple’s claims are overstated. Whatever the case may be, there are no signs Apple is planning to change its stance. As much as consumers may dislike this policy, if they want to remain in the Apple ecosystem, they have to make do without wall chargers or purchase them separately.