Xiaomi vs. Apple: Android Giant Reduces Plastic in Its Box by 60%, Keeping the Charger

Xiaomi has promised to reduce plastic used in its smartphone packaging by 60%. The first step in this direction will be sales of the Mi 10T Lite smartphones in Europe.

The changes will only affect the box so that users will receive all the needed accessories, including a charger, USB-C cable, and even a case. Obviously, this is a reproach towards Apple, which deprived buyers of the iPhone 12 line of a charger and EarPods, allegedly to protect the environment.

Experts believe that Apple made such a step not for environmental protection but for the sake of money. 5G is a big reason why Apple is looking for ways to save money on device manufacturing. Only the new products' radio frequency components are 30-35% more expensive than those in previous models, so Apple is looking for ways how to neutralize this difference. The lack of EarPods and a power adapter included in the box is one way to do this.

The lack of wired headphones in the box will encourage many people to buy wireless AirPods. In this case, Apple will get even more money. If Apple sells the same number of phones this year as it did in 2019, which is about 185 million iPhones, and only 5% of buyers decide to buy AirPods, the company will approximately get additional $600 million in gross profit.

Many manufacturers joked about various Apple solutions regarding environmental protection until they began to apply them themselves. For example, the batteries built into the smartphone, the rejection of the 3.5 mm headphone jack, etc.

However, in this case, it will be difficult for manufacturers of Android smartphones to abandon the charger in the box. There are too many completely different fast-charging technologies. It is much more difficult to find a charger for a particular Android smartphone on sale than for an Apple device.