Xiaomi pulls out an Apple charger, ‘cancels’ in the box with the next Mi 11

Xiaomi just released an Apple, or at least it will, on December 28, the day it announces its next top-tier flagship phone Mi 11 with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 inside. The phone in question will come in sleek new retail packaging without a charging adapter in an attempt to protect the environment. While that is all good and good, remember, Xiaomi is the same company that took photos at Apple to remove the accessories included in the box with the iPhone 12, for very similar reasons.

Xiaomi’s co-founder and CEO, Lei Jun, has taken to Chinese social media website Weibo to make the ‘surprising’ reveal. It is not immediately clear if Xiaomi will include a cable with the Mi 11 at this time.

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There is also another angle, if you look closely. In recent iterations, Xiaomi has been aggressively stepping up its fast charging efforts and in doing so has also added a compatible charger in the box ‘at no cost’. There’s no way all of this hasn’t added to the overall cost and Xiaomi somehow not passing that on to end users was commendable, to say the least. Xiaomi’s fast wired and wireless chargers also happen to be one of the most affordable (accessible) on the market.

To be fair, Xiaomi’s decision to protect the environment makes more sense. In fact, there are many more Android phone chargers in the wild, including PD fast-charging ones, to justify it, unlike an iPhone charger with USB-C (all new iPhones ship with a USB-C to Lightning cable). ). So while you will likely have to buy a separate charger for your new iPhone today, that may not be the case with a phone like the Mi 11, although you probably need a proprietary charger to use it. of Xiaomi’s fast charging technology.

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The tech world is full of cases of brands mocking rivals, but this may be the fastest a brand has made a 180 degree turn in how it feels about a certain product decision. In fact, if you were to go to Xiaomi’s global Twitter account right now, you would still find a tweet that the company had posted hours after Apple’s announcement. “Don’t worry, we didn’t leave anything out of the box with the # Mi10TPro,” is what Xiaomi had said, only to change gears in two months and remove the charger from its next flagship.

Don’t worry, we don’t leave anything out of the box with it. # Mi10TPro. pic.twitter.com/ToqIjfVEQX

– Xiaomi (@Xiaomi) October 14, 2020

Ironically, Xiaomi is not the only brand following a trend that Apple recently started. The upcoming Samsung Galaxy S21 is also likely to follow suit. I wonder what OnePlus has in store with the OnePlus 9.