Xiaomi has taken to social media to poke some light fun at Apple’s decision to remove the charger (and EarPods) from the iPhone 12 packaging. There is some irony about the Chinese OEM trolling the same company it has frequently been accused of closely imitating, though.
The Twitter account for Xiaomi in Spain has been trolling Apple and the iPhone 12. The Cupertino company controversially revealed that its latest iPhone would not be shipped with a power adapter, thus supposedly cutting down on e-waste and allowing Apple to produce a smaller box for the iPhone 12. While some may applaud Apple for its commitment to the environment, others have been more cynical.
The Xiaomi troll tweet (see below) translates from Spanish into English as “Good morning MiFans, today we dreamed that our smartphones came without a charger in the box (cold sweat emoji). Fortunately it was just a nightmare (voltage emoji)”. Of course, Xiaomi smartphones generally come with an appropriate fast charger, the required cables, and various accessories such as a protective case. Perhaps Xiaomi just doesn’t care as much about the environment as Apple though?
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Depending on your view, Apple’s move is either pleasing or infuriating. The positive spin along with the company’s PR shows that fewer accessories equals smaller boxes and therefore more units shipped per pallet. According to Apple, this results in a reduction of two million metric tons of carbon emissions that can be reimagined as taking 450,000 cars off the road on an annual basis. Looking at it from this point of view, then no iPhone 12 charger in the box is surely not a bad thing…
But of course, the cynics, of which Xiaomi appears to be one, will look at those iPhone 12 buyers who are new to Apple’s ecosystem and don’t have a compatible charger to hand (or EarPods). As pointed out in an extensive article in Wired, this will actually lead to additional shipping and packaging as these users order the necessary accessories. Considering Xiaomi has frequently been “inspired” by Apple in the past, it would be amusing if the Chinese OEM follows suit in the near future by moving to charger-free smartphone shipments.
