Are Apple leading the charge of combating an e-waste problem, or are they just out to charge you more for less?

Since around the time that the WWDC 2020 keynote dropped on the internet in a post-covid technology landscape, a divisive rumour has circulated about the 2020 iPhones shipping without a charger in their box. On first look this appears to be yet another attempt by Apple to move people away from something that they are comfortable with. See the prior removal of the headphone jack from the iPhone 7, and going further back when they replaced the 30 pin connector with Lightning. Yet if this rumour turns out to be true, I believe that this move is not simply an attempt by Apple to make consumers buy more accessories at a bigger profit margin, but more of a necessity to help reduce the carbon footprint of each and every person around the globe that uses an iPhone. Or that’s how I like to think anyway.

Apple announced that it has a target of becoming carbon neutral across its entire business and manufacturing supply chain by 2030 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53485560). The company has goals in terms of its environmental impact, and I think it has been there for many years already. You only have to look at their product launches and keynotes to see this and they tend to dedicate a slide to the environmental impact of their new product.

A quick Google search showed that Apple sold 217.72 million iPhone units worldwide in 2018 (https://www.statista.com/statistics/276306/global-apple-iphone-sales-since-fiscal-year-2007/). That’s 217,720,000 power adapters and 217,720,000 Lightning cables that were also shipped. All of this is a single factor in the emerging and growing problem of e-waste. An author of a UN report has suggested that ‘the 50 million tonnes of e-waste generated every year will more than double to 110 million tonnes by 2050, making it the fastest growing waste stream in the world.’ (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51385344). Therefore although the numbers of iPhone units sold, and therefore power adapters and cables that are going into consumers hands each year are staggering, this is merely the tip of the iceberg. For every power adapter and cable not used, there will be X amounts of other electronic items like screens, fridges, and vacuum cleaners for example which will also be joining the e-waste Everest.

The obvious argument against this move, and one that I’m sure Apple haters will sling in the direction of the company, is “you expect me to pay £1000 for a phone, but you won’t provide me the equipment to charge it?” A fair argument. You wouldn’t expect to buy a brand new car that came without wheels. But in the case of iPhones and other smartphones consumers have been buying these for many years now, and will doubtless have had many iterations of iPhones and other different phones. Across this timespan consumers would have accumulated numerous plugs and associated charging cables. Talking from my own experience, when I have upgraded a phone in the past I have continued to use the charging cable and power adapter that are a constant fixture on my bedside table. The new ones have remained in the box until something breaks. 

I also think that if true, Apple may finally be on the verge of announcing a product like the fabled AirPower which never came to fruition. If this were the case then a product like AirPower where you were able to charge multiple devices wirelessly at the same time would solve the problem of having to ship chargers and cables in every box of every individual product. Although again, this could be a way of just making you upgrade to the next best thing. What would be good to see is universal charging across the devices, manufacturers and ecosystems in order to cut out a high volume of needless e-waste and make charging our multiple electronic devices that we carry constantly easier and more efficient.