News Analysis India

Tag: Power Adapter

  • After Mocking Apple, Xiaomi Confirms That Mi 11’s Retail Box Won’t Include USB Charger

    Months after mocking Apple for removing charger from the iPhone 12 retail box, Xiaomi has announced that it would too ship the upcoming Mi 11 without a power adapter. The Mi 11 series that is expected to pack the vanilla Mi 11 and Mi 11 Pro will launch on December 28 in China. The latest development was shared by Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun via a post on Weibo. Xiaomi echoes Apple’s reasoning related to environmental protection for the removal of the charger from Mi 11’s box. Moreover, Samsung that too mocked Apple for its decision in October is rumoured to ship the next Galaxy S21 smartphones without a charger.

    The Xiaomi executive further revealed the design of the Mi 11’s retail box which is not only thinner compared to other phones’ boxes that come with a charger, but it also lists some of the Mi 11’s features. For instance, the retail box highlights 108-megapixel camera, Super AMOLED screen, HDR10+ certification, and audio tuning by Harman Kardon. Earlier this week, the Chinese tech company announced that the smartphone(s) would feature a new display tech with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection. Xiaomi has also showcased the vanilla Mi 11’s Geekbench scores that are significantly higher than the scores attained by Mi 10. The new series will pack the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC.

  • Agency in Brazil Demands Apple Re-Bundle Chargers With New iPhones

    A consumer protection agency in Brazil is demanding that Apple re-bundle new iPhones with a charger, citing the company’s rationale of reducing carbon emissions as suspect. 

    In October, Apple revealed the iPhone 12 would be sold without a power adapter in an effort to downsize the packaging, and thereby minimize the environmental impact. 

    However, Procon-SP, Sao Paulo’s consumer protection agency, has called on Apple to bring back the power adaptors, saying local consumers expect them to be bundled with their new iPhones.

    Apple should have done more to notify customers about why it removed the power adapters from the iPhone 12, the agency says. Procon-SP is also skeptical of Apple’s environmental-impact claims, noting that the company didn’t offer to recycle old iPhone power adapters.

    Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Procon-SP says the company argues that existing iPhone owners already own a compatible charger. Thus, there’s no need for Apple to churn out extra power adapters and add more carbon emissions to the planet. 

    The Procon-SP review could result in a fine if Apple is found to have violated local consumer protection laws. European lawmakers have also been calling on Apple to build iPhones with a USB-C port instead of a Lightning one in an effort to reduce the number of compatible chargers consumers need to own.