Will smartphones eventually ship with nothing else in the box?

Apple hit the headlines in October 2020 when it decided to ditch power supplies not just from the iPhone 12 lineup, but from all iPhones in the future. Samsung has partnered with flagships like the S21 to ensure the decision will have far-reaching implications. Could it be that these guidelines will quickly become the industry standard, forcing every new smartphone owner to buy basic accessories in addition to increasingly expensive hardware?

First, let’s step back a little and talk about the motivations. During the iPhone 12 reveal, Apple did a big deal about reducing its environmental footprint, which cannot be denied. Electronics of all kinds require minerals and plastics, which are draining finite resources from the earth, not to mention pollution from the supply chain. Fewer accessories mean less packaging, which saves resources such as trees and makes shipping more environmentally friendly. This is offset to some extent by the extra material and supply chains required for third-party accessories, but as long as people don’t ramp up those purchases, the logic is on trial.

However, the reality is that Apple and Samsung are not offering free adapters (or earbuds) to buyers who need them. They charge full price and don’t even give a discount on their phones to make up for it. It goes without saying that profit margins are a major incentive, if not the main motive, to forego bundled accessories.

Where are Apple and Samsung heading?

The decision to ditch the power supplies means that at the moment only one connection cable is included with Apple and Samsung phones. In Apple’s case, of course, it’s a Lightning cable, which further limits its usefulness. Apple has resisted pressure to convert iPhones to USB-C – which is perhaps the strongest argument against its environmental stance. Proprietary ports mean customers have to buy separate, proprietary accessories.

After a few years, there is speculation that Apple will remove the ports entirely. It showed the “courage” to leave out the 3.5 mm headphone jack on the iPhone 7 from 2016 and has since made wireless charging the standard, even if charging times lag behind many Android devices. The Lightning port continues to serve multiple functions – CarPlay, accessories, faster charging, and iTunes syncing – but it’s easy to imagine a future where Apple claims wireless is all everyone needs. It would allow the company to remove all of the included accessories, reduce component costs, and tidy up the iPhone’s internal design space.

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Samsung has been mimicking Apple for well over a decade, so it probably won’t be far before the iPhone goes portable. However, it is unlikely to jump in with both feet. Much of Samsung’s mobile revenue comes from markets where people are prone to budget models and cannot necessarily afford to charge wireless accessories. Expect premium Note and Galaxy S line phones to come first.

Even Apple is likely to try a tiered approach of keeping at least one older iPhone with Lightning equipment while newer models take the plunge. It could in theory reserve portless technology for pro phones, but it might be easier to drive adoption with every new model on board.

Because of the budget-conscious demographics, it will be difficult to sell the masses of phones without included accessories, let alone portless devices. The latter may require tech like 5G and high-speed qi charging to feel seamless – and these haven’t become universal in Europe or North America, forget the rest of the world.

Even if Apple and Samsung take the lead, it will likely take years for the rest of the industry to follow suit, and a full transition is not guaranteed. Bundles can be a competitive advantage, as evidenced by the OnePlus Nord 2, which is bucking the trend of ditching power supplies and other accessories by not only coming with a USB-C cable and charger, but also a case and screen protector . There are even wired earphones in France. Xiaomi does not include a charger in China, but offers one at no extra charge and bundles the accessories with global versions of the Mi 11.

Cost savings and the influence of Apple and Samsung are hard to resist, so the long-term trend is towards the omission of accessories. However, it seems certain that once they all go away, it won’t matter that much anymore. Consumer response will slow the process down, and hopefully wireless technologies will get better and more ubiquitous when the last wire is removed from a smartphone box.