Why do your mobile phones come with fewer accessories?

At the time of the iPhone 17 series release, another noteworthy phone has quietly made its debut - the Xperia 10 VII.

As Sony's latest masterpiece, the configuration of this phone is nothing to be excited about; instead, it's a bit of a shock. You won't be able to find a USB - C data cable in its box no matter how hard you look.

That's right. Not only the charging adapter, but now you also have to buy the cable yourself.

Why are there fewer and fewer accessories for our phones?

This is the fifth year since the phone industry started removing charging adapters. There are fewer accessories in phones, and the boxes are getting lighter. Behind this is a self - consistent business narrative, a script that perfectly combines "environmental protection" and "business."

Looking back, it seems that consumers have always been the ones paying for this script.

Environmental protection and cost - a "win - win" business

Let's rewind the clock to 2020. Apple first removed the standard charger and EarPods with a USB - C interface from the iPhone 12 series.

The reason given at that time was very straightforward: for environmental protection.

Apple's exact words were that there are already over 2 billion Apple power adapters and billions of third - party chargers globally. Continuing to include new ones would only cause huge electronic waste and carbon emissions.

By simply removing the charger and EarPods, Apple can reduce over 2 million tons of carbon emissions annually, which is equivalent to taking 500,000 cars off the road.

500,000 cars is indeed an astonishing figure - it's almost a quarter of the annual automobile production in Michigan (represented by Detroit) today.

Detroit in 1960 was the undisputed automobile capital of the world.

And the "environmental protection" story still sounds good: every phone makes a little contribution to the planet.

Similar descriptions appear repeatedly in Apple's highly - regarded "Environmental Progress Report," which is released annually.

In the face of Apple's huge sales volume and market share, this logic is impeccable. For the sake of our shared planet, it seems worthwhile to forgo a charger.

But for manufacturers, it's not just about ideology; there's also a lot of business involved.

Reducing the charger directly lowers the material cost of each iPhone, but this is just a small gain. What really saves money is the obvious reduction in the size of the iPhone's packaging box.

At the iPhone 12 series launch event, Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice - president of environment, policy, and social initiatives, revealed a detail: After the packaging box became smaller, each shipping pallet could hold 70% more iPhones, which means a significant increase in the transportation efficiency of a single logistics operation and a huge reduction in transportation costs.

(It's just that they often don't mention how much of the saved cost is passed on to the end - users.)

Left: iPhone 11 series / Right: iPhone 12 series

Companies save on material costs for accessories, packaging costs, and transportation costs, and at the same time, they label themselves as "environmentally friendly," enhancing their brand image. Seeing that Apple has made both profits and a good reputation from this approach, other manufacturers naturally follow suit.

As a result, a wave of "environmental protection" has swept across the entire phone industry.

But as the saying goes, money isn't saved; it's earned. The real charm of this initiative is that it has allowed manufacturers to find an explosive growth point.

Environmental protection regenerates a new market

Let's still take Apple as an example.

When the iPhone 7 removed the 3.5mm headphone jack, the reason was "to create more space for internal components." By the iPhone 12 series, EarPods were completely removed and no longer included with the phone.

Running parallel to this timeline is a legendary device - AirPods.

As the 3.5mm headphone jack disappeared, EarPods were squeezed out and then completely removed. Apple naturally redirected users' attention to AirPods.

A standard right that originally belonged to users has quietly been transformed into a new consumer demand.

This demand has been incorporated into the wearable device category. According to the 2024 fiscal year data, the annual revenue of this segment reached a staggering $39.8 billion, surpassing Nike and Coca - Cola.

According to the latest forecast from Counterpoint Research, AirPods will reach the milestone of $100 billion in cumulative revenue in 2026, its tenth anniversary.

By saving on a headphone cable, Apple not only reduces carbon emissions and meets environmental protection goals but also creates new demand and earns an entire industry. This is much more profitable than just saving costs.

When Apple removed the charger from the iPhone 12, the script became even more polished. Apple said, "You all have chargers," but what it didn't say was that most users still have the 5W "five - volt - one - amp" charger that they've been using for almost a decade, while the iPhone 12 series supports 20W fast charging.

Want to experience faster charging? Sure, please purchase our official fast charger separately, or choose a third - party brand.

The latest iPhone 17 series isn't immune to this absurd contradiction either. Alongside the latest generation of iPhones comes a charger that supports PD3.2 dynamic power adjustment technology, enabling a more efficient and safer charging experience.

As expected, this charger, which can better protect the battery's health in the future, isn't in your iPhone 17 series box. Instead, it's waiting for you in the official accessories section of the website at a price of 329 yuan.

You see, in this way, it not only meets environmental protection goals but also directly spawns a large number of accessories, creating a huge market.

True environmental protection, but a poor user experience

To be honest, the above initiatives have indeed made significant contributions to environmental protection. At the same time, there have been some remarkable innovations, providing consumers with better choices. To some extent, it's a model of achieving multiple goals at once.

However, it still has a big problem -

What manufacturers have done not only doesn't offer much benefit to consumers but also severely damages consumers' user experience.

Take the removed charger as an example. If you don't have a charger, or if you're upgrading from an older phone and only have a charger with a Type - A port, or if you're buying an iPhone for an elderly family member, you might be in trouble -

If you don't prepare a charger in advance, you won't even be able to charge your iPhone when you first get it.

Don't be surprised. A simple search on social media will show that many people have encountered this problem from the iPhone 12 series to the iPhone 17 series. This isn't an over - exaggeration; it's a real pain point for a large number of users who are reluctant to upgrade their old phones.

Looking back at the iPhone 2G, Apple stuffed all the accessories into the box, just to ensure that you could use the iPhone smoothly as soon as you got it.

This decline in user experience was unimaginable in the past, but today, many users have simply "adapted" to it.

The current situation is actually a bit distorted -

We pay for a new phone, but some essential accessories aren't in the box. Even basic accessories are gradually being removed.

The well - intended "environmental protection" has gradually become a killer of the user experience for consumers.

Is this reasonable?

When the banner of environmental protection ultimately serves the manufacturers' fame and fortune, while users only end up with higher phone - upgrading costs and a worse user experience, isn't it just taking advantage of others?

After clarifying the process of phone accessory reduction and the business behind it, let's go back to Sony's approach at the beginning.

Five years of the "boiling frog in warm water" effect have made the removal of chargers an established fact. However, this doesn't mean that Sony can go even further recklessly and remove the last remaining accessory in the box.

If this continues, like losing five cities today and ten cities tomorrow, in the future, when we get a new phone, we may not only have to buy a charger and headphones in advance but also prepare a charging cable to have a normal user experience.

Although this concern may seem like a slippery - slope fallacy, in the business market, the bottom - line is often broken through continuous testing, and this isn't a good trend.

As a consumer, I support environmental protection - I'm willing to pay for more sustainable technologies and greener production methods.

But I oppose using environmental protection as a guise to transfer costs. If so - called environmental protection ultimately turns what should be included in the phone box and ready - to - use into a commercial game where you have to pay twice or even three times.

Then it's not environmental protection; it's just a scheme.

This article is from the WeChat official account "ifanr" (ID: ifanr). The author is the one who discovers tomorrow's products. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.