Why Your iPhone Shipped Without This One Crucial Accessory

If you've bought an iPhone in the last few years, since the release of 2020's iPhone 12, you may have noticed that something was missing: The wall charger, which Apple already wasn't bundling with its Apple Watch smartwatches or AirPods earphones. The new iPhone 15 may come with a USB Type-C cable, but not anything to power it. This results in a sleeker package, but as a user, it can be pretty annoying. Not only do you need to buy a dongle now to use wired headphones since the analog headphone jack is gone from the iPhone and other flagships, but if you don't already have a sufficient charger, then you need to buy one of those as well. All on top of the $800 or more that you're spending on the phone itself.

The good news is that the age of damaging your phone with the "wrong" charger is basically over. Just about every new Android phone you buy these days will support standardized fast charging over USB Type-C using USB Power Delivery, and starting with the iPhone 15 series, that applies to all new iPhones, as well. So even if you don't already have a suitable charger, starting with the newest iPhones, any on-spec Type-C charger will do, so it's not a huge expense. And even if you don't have or want to get an iPhone 15, other newer iPhones on the market, at least as of October 2021, come with a Lightning to USB Type-C cable, allowing you to use it with the aforementioned generic Type-C chargers.

But why is this happening in the first place? Why is such an essential part of the basic smartphone user experience no longer included by default? Where did the wall charger go?

There are two distinct reasons why Apple stopped bundling wall chargers with iPhones. Apple freely admits to one of these on its website, but you have to dig a little bit deeper to find the other.

"As part of our efforts to reach our environmental goals, iPhone models no longer include a power adapter in the box," reads Apple's "About Apple USB power adapters" page. (This language was, according to Wayback Machine archives of Apple.com, added in fall 2021, about a year after the initial change was made.)  The page then goes on to explain which cables and chargers can be used with these newer iPhones. But there it is in plain English: Not including the charger — or earbuds — is, in large part, an environmental concern.

"Just like we did with Apple Watch, we looked for ways to cut waste and use less material," explained Lisa Jackson, Apple's Vice President of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, during 2020's iPhone 12 announcement event. She added that since there were already 700 million Lightning earphones in circulation, joined by two billion Apple power adapters and billions more third-party adapters. So, to reduce e-waste and "the mining and use of precious materials," the bundled accessories were gone.

Wolf then gave the other reason for the change: The smaller box allows Apple to "fit up to 70% more products on a shipping pallet." Sure, this is absolutely an environmental concern, helping cut carbon emissions. But fitting as much as 70% more iPhones into a given shipping container saves Apple a lot of money on transport, as well, to say nothing of the savings from not making as many chargers.