Samsung aims boot at Apple's decision not to bundle a charger in with the iPhone 12, foot ends up in mouth

Samsung has wasted no time in poking fun at Apple’s decision not to bundle a power adapter with its latest iPhone. In a clunkily written social media post, the chaebol said: "Your Galaxy does give you what you are looking for. From the most basic as a charger, to the best camera, battery, performance, memory, and even 120Hz …

[DrXym]

Oh Samsung

This is the company that apes every bullshit evil thing Apple does such as sealing in batteries and removing the earjack. But suddenly the charger removal is a step too far, at least for some blog post? It wouldn't surprise me if they drop the charger too and erase the post.

If they want to show consumers a different path, then they should stop copying Apple and become something better.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Oh Samsung

And yet everything "innovative" in iPhones, from the "retinal display" to the OLED screen, were not only late compared to Samsung's phones, but were in fact purchased from Samsung.

e.g. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2019/10/23/apple-iphone-11-success-victory-win-samsung-screen-oled-competition/#1ef9f8d4242f

[Mage]

Re: Oh Samsung

The ORIGINAL iPhone used a Samsung ARM and bought in GUI. Capacitive wasn't new. It was over 15 years old then, but not used because makers thought scribbling was important (See Palm PDAs) and Capacitive is too low a resolution. The Original iPhone didn't even do 3G in Europe, which other phones did and was NINE YEARS after the first commercial smart phone. A roaring success due to consumer orientated data plans, not innovative HW, SW and package. Most of the iPhone patents should never have been awarded and none of the Design Patents. Till the iPhone only business users could afford data.

Eventually Apple bought in an ARM design house.

[Graphsboy]

Re: Oh Samsung

And yet here we - the iPhone makes more money than any other phone on the market. I bet that really sticks in your throat.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Oh Samsung

Apple fanbois and fangurls, you've got to love'm. The only group more obnoxious is the AMD fanbois and fangurls, and that is a very recent development which probably won't last. But the Apple fans are here forever, sadly.

[Steve Davies 3]

Re: Apple fanbois and fangurls,

The only group more obnoxious is the Tesla fanbois and fangurls

TFFY

[Friendly Neighbourhood Coder Dan]

Re: Oh Samsung

I am fairly neutral when it comes to brands - I don't like iphones and I don't buy them, just like I don't like cucumbers and I don't buy them either. I have no strong feelings against either.

Having said that, I find it odd that people can be excited for a company selling stuff at an higher margin, and therefore ripping its customers off more than its competitors do.

[Dave 126]

Re: Oh Samsung

'Innovation' does not mean putting in every latest hardware feature.

2G was sufficient for the purposes of the original IPhone - rather than visit a website of Mbs to find, say, train times, an app would fetch just the Kbs required. 3G would have consumed too much power in a device made using off-the-shelf chips.

That's a time honoured path. Sony's design and engineering teams express it as MK I - make it any way you can. MK II, refine it. The original IPhone, like the original Walkman and iPod, wasn't made in huge numbers.

[werdsmith]

Re: Oh Samsung

3G would have consumed too much power in a device made using off-the-shelf chips.

In theory. In practice a few kbs would grumble on for several minutes loading to a phone over 2G, causing the handset to heat up and draining the battery. The same on 3G would be done in a few seconds.

I’m not sure about why people whinge on about IPhone features, nobody is claiming originality. Just another Edison taking ideas from others and making them more consumer ready.

[Dave 126]

Re: Oh Samsung

> The ORIGINAL iPhone used a Samsung ARM and bought in GUI.

No. Elements of the UI (some multitouch gestures) came from the capacitive keyboard company Fingerworks, but most of the UI came from a two man team inside Apple who had been exploring touchscreen interfaces for years - and largely overlooked until the iPhone project.

Yeah, Samsung galaxy might have fabbed the chip, but someone had to. And ARM... remember that Apple had a big role in their history.

[NeilPost]

Re: Oh Samsung

Capacitive (and resistive) LCD Toichscreens were around in the Retail EPOS environment before this - in the days of Siemen’s Nixdorf, DigiPoS, IBM, ICL and many-many others.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Oh Samsung

I bought my first water resistant phone from Samsung. It was the M110 and it was great for me because of my job. I often worked at building sites and the thing was built like a brick. It also survived a few dunks in the bath (whilst on a call in one case) or the odd puddle with no water or dust ingress. That was 2008. Remind me when the iPhone copied got that useful feature.

[Khaptain]

Pay more, receive less

Every version of Apple gets you to pay a little bit more for a little bit less..The law of diminishing returns is Apple's Modus Operandi.

The fact that Samsung eventualkt copies this method is not a compliment, it's simply a further insult to their buyers..

Personally I buy neither as neither is good value and I am too old to care about the ephemeral bling effect..

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Pay more, receive less

Eventually the phones won't even come in a box, they'll just ship them to your house OEM style in a static bag.... but you'll have to play $100 for shipping.

Ironically but, true to modern journalism standards, the typist of this "article" mentions "foot ends up in mouth" but never gives and example of it. I assume the typist was aiming for the reader to have an "Oh, I see moment", I think some of us did.

[PassiveSmoking]

Re: Pay more, receive less

Price for an iPhone 11 Pro Max with 256 GB storage: 1399

Price of an iPhone 12 Pro Max with 256 GB storage: 1199

Way to gouge us and jack up the price, Apple!

[CrazyOldCatMan]

Re: Pay more, receive less

Way to gouge us

You are not required to buy one. Too expensive? Don't buy it.. Too loaded with crapware? Don't buy it (which is one reason I don't buy Samsung).

Moral of the story - buy the phone that's at the price you want and with the features you want.

[Mage]

No, everyone didn't copy.

I'm not buying a phone without a 3.5mm jack. Or a stupid notch.

BT earphones are inferior and cost a lot more and need charged.

My last phone was sometime after Apple did both of those marketing gimmicks. It also has a handy SD card slot. As does my newer tablet with it's 3.5mm jack socket, 256 G SD card and no notch.

Also my laptop, tablet and phone and eink ereader are less than the cost of the Apple Fashion brand phone with the most memory. Want more memory on a Apple phone, buy a new one. Want earphones with better quality and no battery to wear out or go flat? You need a dongle on an Apple phone that costs more than decent wired earphones.

You also can't replace Apple earphone's batteries.

Also many other USB chargers don't charge at same higher current as the Apple one as they picked a different charging protocol, originally.

[Dave 126]

Re: No, everyone didn't copy.

The Lightening > 3.5 mm dongle is included with iPhones, and when tested is found to have very good sound quality compared to many more expensive third party DACs. Replacements aren't very pricey.

If you want the best sound quality on earphones from a phone, you either buy an LG phone with an ESS Sabre DAC - or else you pick a USB C / Lightening DAC of your choosing.

Samsung's fast charging system predates USB C, and therefore USB C Power Delivery. It ups the voltage, not the current, upon handshaking with the phone. At the time, other phone vendors choose another proprietary fast charger method that upped the current. I don't see what this has to do with Apple.

[Wade Burchette]

Re: No, everyone didn't copy.

But what if I need to charge the phone while I listen to music? What if I lose the adapter?

[ICL1900-G3]

Re: No, everyone didn't copy.

lightning!!!!

[45RPM]

Re: No, everyone didn't copy.

How wise. In fact, I’m going to go further. I won’t use a phone that can’t plug into the wall. After all, why risk not being able to call because you have a flat battery? Also, I’m not convinced that having the microphone and speaker in such close proximity gives good sound quality, so I need a phone which provides six or seven inches of separation, and gives those components good support (Bakelite is best). Screens are fragile, so I don’t want a phone with one of those, and buttons might get gummed up - so I won’t buy a phone without a nice, user-friendly, dial.

Colour is good though. Dark green, beige,red and black are clearly the best colours.

[MachDiamond]

Re: No, everyone didn't copy.

"I'm not buying a phone without a 3.5mm jack."

I use the jack on my iPods all of the time. I went with an Android phone due to the cost and restrictions that come with iPhones. Being a hardware person, I like having a physical way into the phone to do things never anticipated by the maker.

The Apple Airpods cost about $10/month if you get a full life from them and then they need to be tossed. There is little chance of much of an economic return to recover the materials which just smears out the elements. Mines are useful because that's where there is a concentration of something that makes it worth the effort and energy to pull it out of the ground. A landfill is the opposite.

[Dave 126]

Re: No, everyone didn't copy.

I've got at least half a dozen pairs of wired earphones and headphones that are awaiting my tender ministrations with a soldering iron - cable failure, every pair. I'm not in a position to analyse the environmental impact of headphone cable failure (especially with regard to wireless headphones) other to note that it is not zero.

(I should really start looking at 'chi-fi' IEMs with replaceable cables, rather than grabbing a pair of whatever is cheap from the supermarket... but then I'd only lose them).

I'm not sure you're correct about the lack of economic return of dismantling Airpods for recycling. The chances are improved by being a popular model (similar dynamics apply to mass dismantling as they do the mass production)

[MachDiamond]

Re: No, everyone didn't copy.

"I'm not sure you're correct about the lack of economic return of dismantling Airpods for recycling."

If there were a way to easily replace the battery, many Airpods would be used for a much longer period of time.

To be economic, a machine would be needed that breaks down the Airpods step by step into component parts. To pay off the cost of the machine, it would need a big supply of Airpods. I'm not sure that it can be made to handle every generic version of ear pods. If you contrast that with building a machine to strip down 18650 battery cells, the differences are apparent. Since the 18650 form factor is a standard and gazillions of them are made, there can be machines built to break them down safely all over the place and be kept busy 24/7.

The Fully Charged Show on YouTube did an episode on a company in Germany that is developing methods and machines to reclycle Lithium batteries. It's very interesting. IIRC, Helen Czerski is the presenter. That makes it especially easy to watch.

[a pressbutton]

I remember mobile phones

Those happy evenings down the pub stroking your fondleslabs and ignoring your friends

Over the last six months I cannot say I have been outside the front door too often

What I need is something that does zoom / teams really well and allows me to half-ignore what everyone else is saying and get on with something else at the same time

[Giles C]

Given the prevalence of usb charging wall sockets, I don’t think I have used a charger for the last 5 years. Just plug my usb cable into a wall socket and let it get on with it. So not bundling chargers makes sense to me. Also I never listen to music so the headphones are a waste of space as well - I might have a podcast on in the car but that is rare.

It cuts down on waste and yes it saves the makers money but also means smaller boxes so less packaging, less weight so cheaper to ship and if you want a charger you don’t have to buy the manufacturers just look on your preferred tat market (eBay amazon etc) and pick something up for a tenner.

And yes I do expect that everyone else will follow suit.

[Dave 126]

Cuts down down shipping weight (saving money and emissions), and the lower packaging volume allows shops to carry more stock / more choice of phone. Silly Samsung (for not supervising the

children in their their marketing department)

And really, who doesn't already have loads of phone wall chargers, fag socket chargers, computers, TVs, etc they can plug a cable into? For those few people who don't, wall chargers are available from every supermarket or online.

[Anonymous Coward]

Plug a cable in to charge a phone? Are you mad? Why not just plonk it on the Qi charging pad?

[Strahd Ivarius]

Re: Colin Wilson 2 - Apple have got this right!

Charge a phone?

Are you mad?

Think of the stockholders!

When the battery is drained, buy a new phone!

[Wade Burchette]

Here is an idea. Why don't we ask the customer if they need a wall socket adapter when they buy the device. If they already have plenty, they can say no. But if they need one, it can be provided separately when bought in the store or shipped.

[JimboSmith]

Here is an idea. Why don't we ask the customer if they need a wall socket adapter when they buy the device. If they already have plenty, they can say no. But if they need one, it can be provided separately when bought in the store or shipped.

Stop making sense please.

[Phil Kingston]

Isn't that what they're doing? Need a charger, add it at checkout.

[gnasher729]

I mostly agree, but don’t buy rubbish chargers. Rubbish chargers _are_ dangerous. For a family with multiple phones, iPads, other devices that need charging, Anker makes some very nice 5 port chargers for around £30. Clever enough to charge both iPhones and Samsung phones faster than USB-A would normally allow.

[druck]

Unfortunately a lot of the rubish chargers can be found in integrated wall sockets, and having them embedded in the wall with inadequate cooling, makes a dangerous situation literally incendiary.

[MrBanana]

Yes, and I do have a number of USB charger enabled mains sockets around the house. But they are all 2.1A things, which is fine most of the time. But fast charge phones, like my OnePlus, need dedicated fast charge adaptors. If the iPhone has such a requirement then it seems like a dumb move not to include the necessary adaptor.

[John Robson]

Does it really *need* a dedicated adaptor, or is it just faster with one?

[cipnt]

Not shipping a usb charger is meant to reduce waste, but putting usb ports in the wall socket is kind of stupid unless you have a separate 12v circuit throughout the building.

Also technology moves faster than building refurbishment cycles, so you will be stuck with a outdated usb ports for some time.

I have seen some CIBSE articles on this issue and the industry seems to be mostly against it. Usb wall sockets serve an immediate need but are a bad long term decision

[MachDiamond]

"Given the prevalence of usb charging wall sockets, I don’t think I have used a charger for the last 5 years."

I've got a big collection and have them in strategic locations so I can plug things in wherever I am. I believe they are all 2A units now. Any more just means I'll have to get a bigger box to store them in. They all also have a bog standard USB socket so all I need is a few cables with different ends to stuff in everything I have.

The only thing that needs to go back into products is a manual. A small printed one for troubleshooting and recovery/hard reboots and an electronic one built into the device.

[six_tymes]

ok we get it

late 2020 and still those annoying notches.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: ok we get it

No doubt you have an engineering solution that can resolve the issue? Somewhere to place a camera and various sensors? I await your presentation, hopefully it isn’t just the punchhole approach as they takes up just as much space and is probably more expensive in terms of the screen.

[martynhare]

Novel idea this but...

How about making it sit in the middle of an elongated speaker grille? Phone speaker quality (just like vibration quality) has gotten worse over the years despite codec improvements.

Try busting out your old classic Blackberry, feeling it buzz and actually talking to someone like a phone is designed to. You’ll be amazed at how much better the experience is.

We don’t need notches and before Android/iOS smartphones, we actually had better call quality.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Novel idea this but...

So you prefer less visible screen when the space is perfect for status icons?

[UkForest]

Re: ok we get it

How about the Asus Zenfone 6 that I use. It has a full screen (and I mean full) with sensors in the rim and cameras that spin round to the selfie position when required. Works absolutely perfectly.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: ok we get it

Ok now how will you squeeze the depth sensors the iPhone has into the rim?

[low_resolution_foxxes]

Re: ok we get it

What is the specific reason for the notch?

Is it the camera or the VCSEL? I heard a rumour the face id didn't work otherwise.

Me? Couldn't give a feck. Good phones with a headphone jack and semi OK screens are OK by me. Why pay $500 extra to give patent trolls and hedge funds more money for semi useless parents?

[DenTheMan]

Oh what a laugh

I always laugh when reviews complain about low power charger being included totally ignoring the fact that a high power chargers can reduce the number of charge cycles to 300 or below.

[cipnt]

Re: Oh what a laugh

I agree, we don't need fast charging very often and using it every time significantly impacts battery life.

However the solution could be built inside the phones - when you plug your phone a prompt could ask you if you want to use normal or fast charging. It should default to normal charging speed unless the user choses the fast option.

[MachDiamond]

Re: Oh what a laugh

"totally ignoring the fact that a high power chargers can reduce the number of charge cycles"

I charge my phone every few days while I sleep. I'm not buried neck deep in it all day long so "slow" charging is plenty. I also don't use the phone for much more than voice calls. I managed to get the phone co to disable text (a time waster as far as I'm concerned) and I do most internet stuff on my desktop in my office. When I'm out, I'm doing other things. I have a SatNav in the car and several iPods for books, lectures and music. If I flatten the battery in the iPod listening to a book, it doesn't mean I can't make or receive a call if I need to. If I get a call, it doesn't usurp the screen of the SatNav while I ignore the ringing until I get somewhere I can take the call (if it isn't just a telemarketer). The iPods have my calendar and some of my contacts backed up in them so if the phone suffers and accident, I can still retrieve a phone number. I'm big on having backups.

[mark l 2]

I think its a step in the right direction for the charger to be an optional extra, as lots of people already have one so not including it cuts down on e-waste. But with several manufacturers having competing fast charging standards you might find that your old phone charger might work with your new phone. But only charge it at the standard slow charge rate, and to achieve the faster charging rate you need to go out and buy a new charger anyway.

I think it about time the phone manufacturers got together and come up with a standard for fast charging they all adopt, and then that can truly avoid creating unnecessary e-waste.

[John Brown (no body)]

"I think it about time the phone manufacturers got together and come up with a standard for fast charging they all adopt, and then that can truly avoid creating unnecessary e-waste."

Won't happen. Ever. The EU strongly suggested the phone manufactures get together and agree a charging connector standard. Eventually the EU made them do it because they couldn't agree, and chose for them.

[Pascal Monett]

It is definitely a step in the right direction since it means that mobile phones will have to be compliant with a single model of charger, and that is a Good Thing (TM).

I have a drawer full of chargers with connectors of every kind imaginable (and probably some unimaginable ones). The day I can throw that into the recycling bin and replace it all with one or two truly universal chargers is a day I am looking forward to.

[gnasher729]

"I think it about time the phone manufacturers got together and come up with a standard for fast charging they all adopt, and then that can truly avoid creating unnecessary e-waste."

There is USB-C, which is a standard to supply anything from 5 Watt to 100 Watt to Standard USB-c devices. And there is USB-A, where there is not really a standard, but good makers of chargers can recognise all the popular devices (like iPhone, iPad, Samsung devices and various others) and supply maximum power to each of them.

[Charlie Clark]

When Apple removed the headphone jack from the iPhone, so did everyone else.

Did they? My S10e has a headphone jack and support for an SD-card, and it has a tiny hole rather than a notch. Though I've been using Bluetooth headsets for more 10 years mainly as this avoids cables getting tangled, snagged, etc. And my S5 had wireless charging years before Apple realised they couldn't establish their own Apple Charge™ standard.

Apple makes great phones and compelling packages but, with the exception maybe of the graphics, in terms of hardware has largely be playing catchup for the last five years. But this hardly seems to affect sales (the i-Phone X was a sign of going too far) so they will probably continue to do so.

[a pressbutton]

Sir, a factual point of order

I think you may find that Apple _has_ their own Apple Charge™ standard.

However, it is not really about batteries.

[adam payne]

Of course it will. Chargers cost money to make. Headphones cost money to make – and most people don't even use them. Apple just gave its competition permission to stop including them.

I take chargers and headphones out of all the boxes and add them to my stock. The amount of people that ask me for these because they've lost them truly boggles the mind.

[Robert Grant]

then there's the regulatory aspect. As previously noted in this publication, the EU Commission has pledged to consider whether phone manufacturers should decouple accessories (like cables and charging blocks) from devices in a bid to limit the amount of electronic waste produced by the mobile sector.

More importantly than regulation, the environment consequences.

[T. F. M. Reader]

Pardon the silly question...

... but isn't a new phone in a box without a charger essentially unusable?

Will it be possible (in certain jurisdictions) to sue Apple for selling a product that is not "fit for the purpose", etc? Also, if a charger is sold as a separate product will it be a special case of "bundling" (that is a no-no in many places as well)? [Disclaimer: IANAL]

Is there any other product that needs power - in any category, including kettles, etc. - that is sold without a charger/power cord? Has the argument about power cords from old kettles lying around ever been considered, let alone used?

[MrBanana]

Re: Pardon the silly question...

"Is there any other product that needs power - in any category, including kettles, etc. - that is sold without a charger/power cord? "

Yes. Power tools. After buying a number of standard power tools of the same make, you end up with a bunch of chargers and batteries. Now I buy what is called bare tools - just the body, without any battery or charger.

[Chris G]

Re: Pardon the silly question...

Bare tools are fine for DIYers but pro's often have several tools on the go at any one time so end up needing to buy extra batteries at a premium price and then find they need to buy extra chargers. Bare tools professionally is a marketing ploy. One make at least, does sell a charger for several batteries at once though.

[MachDiamond]

Re: Pardon the silly question...

"Bare tools professionally is a marketing ploy."

Depends on what you are doing. I have a pile of ancient Makita drills. It's handy to have one or two with different drill sizes, one with a countersink bit and another with a phillips bit. I find it much more efficient to have a set up like that rather than constantly changing bits. I'm not running them down equally so I don't need a charger and spare battery for each one. Often I'll just have two. One to drill a pilot hole and another to drive the screw. If I do need to stop to let batteries top up, it's a good excuse for a cuppa (I quit smoking years ago). I can also spend time cleaning up the mess I'm making. I rarely wind up at a standstill if all of my batteries are flat.

[David Roberts]

Re: Pardon the silly question...Makita

I bought a Makita manufactured Site drill from Screwfix with two spare batteries.

I have since bought a Makita drill body (situations like drill and counter sink) and a Makita impact driver body (kicks ass driving in screws) and generally manage OK without needing a spare battery on charge.

Good solid kit.

[MrBanana]

Re: Pardon the silly question...Makita

I used to be a Bosch fanboi. But after using their early consumer grade stuff, then having to move on to the pro-grade to get a decent, reliable tool, I gave up and switched to Makita. Very happy so far, but my main drill/driver has a bad front bearing, and I can't remove the chuck to fix it. Maybe I should ask AvE - I'm sure he has a way of separating the two parts, but possibly not in a way that is reversible.

[J.G.Harston]

Re: Pardon the silly question...

Or just plug it into the mains and never run flat and have greater power available.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Pardon the silly question...

My car didn't come with its own filling station, so I have to use someone else's petrol pump to get energy into it.

/sarc

Think of it not as removing the charger, but changing the required plug/socket and standardising it internationally. Instead of having a mains plug suitable for whatever country you're selling in, you have a USB plug which is truly universal (that's what the U stands for!)

[Dave 126]

Re: Pardon the silly question...

> I find it odd that people can be excited for a company selling stuff at an higher margin, and therefore ripping its customers off more than its competitors do.

The full phrase is "Not fit for the purpose *for which it is sold*". I can legally sell you a chocolate fireguard, as long I clearly point out that it is for novelty or decorative purposes only. Heck, a few times I've searched Amazon for a vacuum cleaner and it has returned results for a child's toy vacuum cleaner. It is fit for the purpose of being a toy, but it doesn't clean carpets.

[steviebuk]

Makes me angry!!!!!

"And then there's the regulatory aspect. As previously noted in this publication, the EU Commission has pledged to consider whether phone manufacturers should decouple accessories (like cables and charging blocks) from devices in a bid to limit the amount of electronic waste produced by the mobile sector."

Stop the fucks known as Apple from fighting Right To Repair then and all the other industries doing the same. A tracker manufacturer is also fighting it. Have made their trackers so only official repairs shops are allowed to fix them!!! Do they not understand some farms are in the middle of fucking nowhere. The whole point was farmers were supposed to be able to repair them onsite themselves.

Fighting right to repair means you don't give a shit about e waste and just want to control it so you can force people to buy new shit and bin their own shit. Creating e waste.

Cunts!

[Boris the Cockroach]

Reduce the e-waste?

Engineer a phone that does'nt need throwing away because the battery is fooked, also can have the screen replaced by a 3rd party

And stop convincing people they need the latest shiney shiney thats 0.01% better than the shiney shiney they got 12 weeks ago...

Well its sunday and I can dream.... reality is those ideas will cut into profits too much

[cipnt]

Re: Reduce the e-waste?

User swappable battery needs to make a come back, at east in some models (not everyone needs it)

[MachDiamond]

Re: Reduce the e-waste?

"User swappable battery needs to make a come back, at east in some models (not everyone needs it)"

Not every person, but every phone does. I have a collection of phones that I've retired for one reason or another. Usually it's because my carrier stops supporting them and they aren't usable anymore on the network. I tend to use things up. One of the bigger ones I've stripped down as much as possible and it runs Torque Pro in the car. Another is dev device for Arduino/Pi stuff. One is a music player and a backup. All of them have a replaceable battery. They'll be useful for quite some time as a small computer with a screen, primitive input device, audio I/O and wireless functions. If I had to steam open the cases to replace the battery, they would be far less convenient.

[steviebuk]

Re: Reduce the e-waste?

Won't be able to do that with a Tesla as they are also fighting right to repair as they want no one touching their cars.

[cipnt]

Good idea; Bad timing

*Good idea*

The idea is obviously good and the EU is pushing for that as well - buy only the phone, you probably already have the charger for it. Also, something that come for free is perceived as worthless by consumers; when you pay for it you'll be more careful with it (ie not lose it)

*Bad timing*

The problem is that Apple is not yet using a universal usb-c plug for its phones so even with the included usb-c to lightning cable you will not easily find a compatible charger "brick" (eg it is not compatible with usb-c chargers with non-detachable cables).

Previous iPhone chargers have a usb-a socket on them, incompatible with the now included usb-c to lightning cable.

This change would've made more sense next year after a significant number of iPhone users would've owned the new usb-c wall brick.

[John Robson]

Re: Good idea; Bad timing

Meh - All the USB-C chargers I have in the house have removable cables.

And very many laptops do, some will even charge the phone whilst the device is charging from the wall as well.

Of course the likelihood is that anyone buying one of these will already have a plethora of lightning cables anyway, and you'll likely need one of those for years to come to connect to many of the cars which have been made over the last ten years with CarPlay/AndroidAuto connected via USB (yes you can get USB dongles to convert them to wireless, but are cables really *that* hard?)

[six_tymes]

good. someone should.

[Maelstorm]

Hmmm...

I'm for dis-ARMing Apple.

[Anonymous Coward]

same old same old arguments here

why can't some people just say they spent £1000 on a Sammy and others say they spent £1000 on an apple and live and let live.

I was fully Nokia from my first phone until Nokia imploded, then went 100% Samsung Galaxy until I started de-googling my life & I realised Andriod phones don't work natively with my new car. Now I use the iphone because I don't want Google near me AND it's the only CarPlay phone that'll work with my car because the manufacturer didn't want to give Google the multitude of data that they insisted on.

Seriously techies need to grow up some times. it's literally like the playground...oh my massively overpriced slave labour manufactured bit of glass and plastic is so much better than your massively overprices slave labour manufactured bit of glass and plastic.

I mean GENUINELY fuck me, if techies got so worked up about the 5 year olds actually MAKING the phones as they do about the badge on those phones!

[Anonymous Coward]

I struggle to think of a less innovative company than Samsung

Especially when you consider the size of their R&D budget.

It's as if not a single original thought has emerged from the minds of their collective corporate drone army. Something that becomes abundantly clear to anyone that's had the misfortune to sit through one of their woeful recruitment seminars.

[J.G.Harston]

Errr.... a charger isn't an accessory, it's a fundamental bit of kit. How the hell do you use the thing if you can't power it?

[Ian Joyner]

Sleazy marketing

Samsung is just an aggressive marketing company that wants to take over the world. The business model is 'take on Apple and put them out of business'. Others have tried:

https://www.cultofmac.com/501138/apple-history-steve-ballmer-iphone-freakout/

It is a very old marketing tactic in computing going back to the 1890s, when Patterson of NCR would black the names of competitive cash registers with FUD. Patterson went to gaol. Thomas Watson worked for Patterson and learnt the tactics and applied them at IBM, but was a little more careful.

Apple explained why they were doing this in the keynote. 1) people already have enough chargers, they just become waste. 2) the packaging for iPhone is smaller, so you get more in a shipment, saving on fuel and shipment costs.

That is great thinking. Most marketing people want their packaging to look big on shelves. Even buying a packet of chips – pumped up with gas to make it look big. Open it and you find it is only 1/3 full. That means you need 3 times the number of trucks to deliver than product. Apple have taken a step to break that wasteful model.

[KimJongDeux]

Hopefully they'll stop bundling expensively moderate cameras in their "products" and we can go back to buying real phones and PDAs. I have a US$250 camera which outperforms any smartphone and weighs half as much. My real camera costs four times as much as a phone and is a bargain because, as a free, high value extra you don't get Tim Cook or Sundar Pichai curating music and diluting photos.