Xiaomi Mi 11 will not come with a charger after it mocked Apple for not including a charger

Lei Jun, CEO of Chinese phone maker Xiaomi, has confirmed that its upcoming Mi 11 phone will not come with a charger, citing environmental concerns. While that’s a legitimate argument against providing another piece of plastic that looks just like all the other chargers people already own, Xiaomi joined other phone makers who mocked Apple a few months ago for not including chargers with iPhone 12.

Jun made the comments on Chinese social media site Weibo, saying that people have a lot of chargers, which creates an environmental burden, and therefore the company canceled the charger of the Mi 11.

Apple’s decision not to include chargers in the iPhone 12 was met with some derision, with competitors like Samsung reminding customers in an ad that charging bricks were “included with their Galaxy.” However, that Galaxy announcement has apparently been dropped, as rumors continue 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 short video showing a Mi 10T box with a charger inside. Perhaps the bottom line here is that companies should keep the marketing team on top of future product decisions?

In fact, there is 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 have. But it seems that as phone makers continue to raise the prices of their new devices, they are somehow finding ways to give customers less – no headphone jacks, no charging bricks – than in the past.

The next step is to simply remove the box and deliver the new phones to customers in bubble wrap or perhaps paper bags? I guess we’ll find out.