- Samsung is trolling Apple on social media for removing the power adapter from the iPhone retail box.
- Last week at the iPhone 12 reveal, Apple announced the box of the iPhone 12 and all other iPhones will no longer include a power adapter or a pair of Lightning headphones.
- Apple says it removed the accessories for the sake of the environment, but it could have done more for the environment by killing Lightning altogether.
It wasn’t exactly a surprise, considering all of the leaks ahead of the announcement, but it was still a notable change of pace when Apple revealed last week that it no longer plans to ship power adapters or headphones in iPhone retail boxes. Always ready to strike, Samsung immediately took to social media after the iPhone 12 event on October 13th and reminded everyone that a charger is still included if they choose to buy a Galaxy instead.
Samsung doesn’t troll Apple quite as often as it used to, but it appears that the official Samsung Caribbean Facebook page wanted to have some fun at the expense of its biggest rival last week:
“
Your #Galaxy does give you what you are looking for,” the post reads. “From the most basic as a charger, to the best camera, battery, performance, memory and even 120Hz screen 
on a smartphone. “
It’s not exactly the ultimate troll job, but it’s fairly clever, all things considered. As for the reasoning behind the charger and the Lightning headphones being removed from the box, Apple explained last week.
“Customers already have over 700 million Lightning headphones, and many customers have moved to a wireless experience with AirPods, Beats or other wireless headphones,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s VP of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, during the iPhone 12 reveal event. “There are also over two billion Apple power adapters out in the world and that’s not counting the billions of third party adapters. So we are removing these items from the iPhone box which reduces carbon emissions and avoids the mining and use of precious materials.”
That certainly sounds like a very noble explanation, but as multiple publications have pointed out, it’s not especially convincing. As The Verge noted on Monday, if Apple really wanted to make a difference, it could have abandoned the proprietary Lightning connector altogether and moved on to USB-C for the iPhone 12. USB-C is quickly becoming the industry standard, and by forcing iPhone users to buy Lightning cables, Apple creates more waste. Furthermore, why include a Lightning to USB-C cord in the box at all if any number of consumers won’t need it?
Apple’s reasoning is sound, but it could have gone so much further for the good of the environment and the good of the consumer. But then it couldn’t sell as many overpriced Lightning power adapters.
