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Wait isn't unbundling the sale of the charger the thing everyone got mad at Apple for? And now they are legislating it?

by GhostVII 5y ago

Version467 5y ago
Apple didn't lower the price after removing the charger.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- hexa22 5y ago
  The charger probably costs about $1 to the BoM. I wouldn’t expect to see any change. But this is not the biggest thing which is that the parts of the iPhone do not determine the price. The price is already set and determines what parts go in. If something somewhere else becomes cheaper, that’s more room in the budget to spend elsewhere whether that be better hardware, hiring more software developers, higher skilled retail workers, etc. In the end it’s up to the user to decide if what’s in the box provides enough value to justify the price. And from the sales data of the last year, that’s an astounding yes.
  - bastawhiz 5y ago
    > I wouldn’t expect to see any change. But then you subsequently need to buy a charger, which is what? $15 if you want to get a reputable one? Even if you only got a new one every three phones, that's essentially a $5 tax on every device. ($6 if you consider that the cost of the device wasn't reduced, with a $1 actual cost like you suggest)
    - hexa22 5y ago
      I have never had a phone charger fail on me so if we assume that it lasts 3 phones and I buy them every 3 years, that comes out to about $1.66 per year for phone chargers. It’s not a surprise no consumer cares. The average consumer would pay an extra $100 for their phone to get it in their favourite colour. The cost of chargers doesn’t even register.
      - bastawhiz 5y ago
        The fact that the average consumer doesn't care doesn't make it less shitty. Nobody is sitting around amortizing the cost of chargers by year. Fifteen bucks is a full home screen of paid apps on your new phone.
Hamuko 5y ago
Apple's charger unbundling was stupid. They sold the iPhone with a USB-A charging brick for like 12 years. Then when the iPhone 11 came out in 2019, it came with a USB-C charging brick and a USB-C to Lightning cable, which would not work with any of the chargers they bundled for the past decade and some. And then, one year after changing the cable, they took away the USB-C charging brick. "Just use the ones you already have" when you'd only have a wall charger that could take the cable that came in the box if you bought the iPhone 11 as well, or bought a separate charger.
- deleted 5y ago
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- deleted 5y ago
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- alxhill 5y ago
  I think it's reasonable for Apple to assume that if you kept the old charger, you also had the old cable for it which would also work with the new iPhone.
  - Hamuko 5y ago
    Then they'd still be shipping e-waste in the form of a cable that you cannot plug into anything.
    - ashtonkem 5y ago
      Cables are pretty low on the e waste front, since it’s mostly pure copper and shielding. The e waste for the charger is worse.
      - 8ytecoder 5y ago
        Plus usb-c to lightning cables were essentially for connecting the iPhone to the Mac. I’d bet that’s the reason the cables was retained.
  - 5y ago
kyriakos 5y ago
the law is not meant to punish companies but to reduce e-waste. if everyone uses the same charger there is no need for a new one every time you buy a new device

Wait isn't unbundling the sale of the charger the thing everyone got mad at Apple for? And now they are legislating it?

Version467 5y ago

Apple didn't lower the price after removing the charger.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
hexa22 5y ago
The charger probably costs about $1 to the BoM. I wouldn’t expect to see any change. But this is not the biggest thing which is that the parts of the iPhone do not determine the price. The price is already set and determines what parts go in. If something somewhere else becomes cheaper, that’s more room in the budget to spend elsewhere whether that be better hardware, hiring more software developers, higher skilled retail workers, etc. In the end it’s up to the user to decide if what’s in the box provides enough value to justify the price. And from the sales data of the last year, that’s an astounding yes.
- bastawhiz 5y ago
  > I wouldn’t expect to see any change. But then you subsequently need to buy a charger, which is what? $15 if you want to get a reputable one? Even if you only got a new one every three phones, that's essentially a $5 tax on every device. ($6 if you consider that the cost of the device wasn't reduced, with a $1 actual cost like you suggest)
  - hexa22 5y ago
    I have never had a phone charger fail on me so if we assume that it lasts 3 phones and I buy them every 3 years, that comes out to about $1.66 per year for phone chargers. It’s not a surprise no consumer cares. The average consumer would pay an extra $100 for their phone to get it in their favourite colour. The cost of chargers doesn’t even register.
    - bastawhiz 5y ago
      The fact that the average consumer doesn't care doesn't make it less shitty. Nobody is sitting around amortizing the cost of chargers by year. Fifteen bucks is a full home screen of paid apps on your new phone.

Hamuko 5y ago

Apple's charger unbundling was stupid. They sold the iPhone with a USB-A charging brick for like 12 years. Then when the iPhone 11 came out in 2019, it came with a USB-C charging brick and a USB-C to Lightning cable, which would not work with any of the chargers they bundled for the past decade and some. And then, one year after changing the cable, they took away the USB-C charging brick. "Just use the ones you already have" when you'd only have a wall charger that could take the cable that came in the box if you bought the iPhone 11 as well, or bought a separate charger.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
alxhill 5y ago
I think it's reasonable for Apple to assume that if you kept the old charger, you also had the old cable for it which would also work with the new iPhone.
- Hamuko 5y ago
  Then they'd still be shipping e-waste in the form of a cable that you cannot plug into anything.
  - ashtonkem 5y ago
    Cables are pretty low on the e waste front, since it’s mostly pure copper and shielding. The e waste for the charger is worse.
    - 8ytecoder 5y ago
      Plus usb-c to lightning cables were essentially for connecting the iPhone to the Mac. I’d bet that’s the reason the cables was retained.
- 5y ago

kyriakos 5y ago

the law is not meant to punish companies but to reduce e-waste. if everyone uses the same charger there is no need for a new one every time you buy a new device