Huawei P50 Might Not Come With A Charger For A Different Reason
Always a trendsetter, Apple's removal of phone chargers from its iPhone boxes is already being copied by its rivals. Amusingly, those are the same companies, or at least one of them, that ridiculed the unpopular move. Samsung and Xiaomi, however, won't be the only ones following in Cupertino's footsteps and Huawei might be the next big name to remove the charger starting with the upcoming Huawei P50. That said, it wouldn't be for financial or environmental reasons like the others.
Apple had one official justification for excluding chargers and even EarPods from its iPhones as well as one unstated reason. On paper, Apple wants to reduce the amount of electronic waste produced by accessories considering almost every new iPhone owner these days may have an Apple charger lying around. Unofficially, this exclusion not only saves the company money but even generates profit when those new owners do have to buy first-party chargers anyway.
Not everyone buys the environmental basis of Apple's business move, however, and the company has even been forced by some governments to offer a charger anyway. Samsung and Xiaomi followed suit but also adopted different methods to avoid the scrutiny and punishment of those governments.
According to Gizchina's report, Huawei will also be removing the charger from its smartphone boxes starting with the still unannounced Huawei P50. The reason, however, has more to do with a lack of supply of charging chips, probably both due to the global semiconductor shortage as well as Huawei's ongoing US export ban. That said, the company will still be selling separate chargers, which hints it has at least enough supplies for accessories.
The Huawei P50 series is expected to debut in May and it will come with a rather controversial new camera design. Perhaps more puzzling is the report that the phone will use a three-year-old Sony IMX600, at least for one of its four cameras. How that will play into reclaiming the DxOMark crown from Xiaomi, we'll have to wait and see for a few more weeks.