[ad_1]
During last week’s Apple iPhone 12 event, the Cupertino-based company was proud to promote its environmental initiatives. Its offices, data centers and stores are currently powered by 100% renewable energy, and the company aims for a net zero “climate impact” by 2030.
Apple’s eco-friendly redesign has extended beyond corporate offices and shopping malls. This year’s iPhones will not ship with headphones or a charger, all in the name of reducing unnecessary waste. This allows 70% more iPhones to be shipped on pallets and, according to Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, “is like taking 450,000 cars off the road a year.”
“This could not only help reduce waste, but it would also avoid environmental impacts related to the extraction of primary raw materials, the manufacturing and distribution of products.” He said Dr Teresa Domenech, Professor of Industrial Ecology at the Institute for Sustainable Resources, University College London, at CNBC.
Even then, there is a dissonance in Apple’s new public green approach. For all the good the company claims to do, there is a stubborn design quirk that continues to exist, challenging its corporate activism. Apple is still sticking to its proprietary Lightning charging port. If the company really cared about the environment, it would have switched to USB Type-C.
The hidden costs of the iPhone 12
According to Apple, there are currently 2 billion iPhone charging adapters in the world, and that’s not including third-party ones. Many of these adapters use the standard rectangular USB Type-A port. But included with the iPhone 12 will be a USB Type-C to Lightning cable, which will make the old adapters incompatible.
In all Apple stores later this month, sales reps are likely to ask shoppers if they have a USB Type-C compatible charging adapter. Some could, many will not. Of course, these users could also use their old 5W adapters and Type A lightning cables. But the new iPhone has fast charging, and for $ 19, users can upgrade to the latest charging adapters to quickly get electric fuel charged. This reduces some of those environmental benefits.
Right now, most of the tech world has switched to USB Type-C. All Android phones are currently on the standard and have been for years. Even the latest iPads and Macbooks currently use Type-C, so it’s not like the connection standard is foreign to Apple. It leaves the iPhone as an outlier, stubbornly sticking to outdated electrical pins as a means of keeping iPhone users tethered to a proprietary port.
If Apple had switched to Type-C, it could have allowed the existing ecosystem of cables and adapters to double down in the iPhone 12. Users with the new iPad or MacBook could step over their existing charging accessories to keep the iPhone 12s charged. Android users who switched to the iPhone might have continued to use the charging adapters included with their old phones. Or anyone who knows you have an Android user could have taken advantage of your existing power settings.
Given the potential waste-saving advantages, Apple’s decision to stick with Lightning is even more puzzling. And let’s not forget that Apple will still need to ship small Type-C power adapters around the world to accommodate the new cable included with the iPhone 12. While these new adapters will have a long service life, they will reduce emissions savings. that Apple so proudly advertises.
Why Apple Won’t Remove the Lightning Port
So why has Apple chosen not to adopt Type-C for iPhone when the waste-saving advantages are seemingly obvious?
It probably comes down to profits. It’s hard to say exactly why Lightning remains, especially as Apple has already switched to USB-C on iPad and Macbook, but it can be assumed that since the iPhone is Apple’s most popular product category, subsequent accessory sales tied a Lightning are powerful.
Cables and charging adapters are cheap to manufacture. While Apple hasn’t disclosed manufacturing costs, typically producing large-scale chargers is just a couple of pennies. So even assuming that adapters and cables cost a dollar to produce, package, and ship, priced at $ 19 a piece, that’s easy money.
At the moment, Apple reports sales of cables and chargers along with other accessories such as Airpods and the Apple Watch. This segment of Apple’s business represents $ 10 billion in quarterly revenue. It is outperforming the Mac line by nearly $ 3 billion. The financial incentive to switch to USB Type-C for iPhone 12 could deprive Apple of the overwhelming profits from the sale of accessories.
panorama
Overall, Apple’s decision not to include a charging adapter with this year’s phone is good for the environment. Apple tends to set trends, and the rest of the tech world follows suit. Don’t be surprised if Samsung, LG, and others start removing accessories and making cases thinner (though probably not right away in Samsung case). And of course, not having to include accessories will also increase profit margins.
But don’t assume Apple is being altruistic about any of this. If it was, it would have killed Lightning years ago, rather than clinging to it with a death grip to prevent iPhone users from shopping elsewhere.
