Apple has made an estimated $6.57 billion by no longer providing chargers and earphones with its new iPhones, according to one analyst.
Daniel Jones for The Daily Mail:
Since 2020, Apple has charged £19 for a new plug or earphones. Critics argue that if it had passed on the full savings, including an estimated 40 per cent reduction in shipping costs as smaller packaging allows 70 per cent more devices on each pallet, iPhone prices would be lower.
Experts believe that Apple, whose new iPhones cost up to £1,549, could be saving about £27 on each phone. The analysis takes into account that while the adapters and earphones sell for £19, they are far cheaper to produce.
Ben Wood, chief analyst at technology experts CCS Insight, said: ‘Apple is the phone industry market leader in helping the environment, with removing chargers and headphones one of many things it is doing. But of course there is a cost saving to Apple in removing chargers and headphones when it sells iPhones.’
Since announcing the move, Apple is thought to have sold 190 million iPhones worldwide. Total gains from removing chargers and earphones, plus reduced shipping costs, could be as high as £5 billion [US$6.57 billion], with an additional estimated £225 million from the sale of accessories.
MacDailyNews Take: When Apple made this move in October 2020, the company stated:
Apple is also removing the power adapter and EarPods from iPhone packaging, further reducing carbon emissions and avoiding the mining and use of precious materials, which enables smaller and lighter packaging, and allows for 70 percent more boxes to be shipped on a pallet. Taken altogether, these changes will cut over 2 million metric tons of carbon emissions annually, equivalent to removing nearly 450,000 cars from the road per year.
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