Reports have confirmed today that the new Samsung A’s series smartphones have come without chargers.
Most European mobile retailers have verified that some entry-level South Korean smartphones are shipped without a charger in a newly unveiled Samsung Galaxy A13 and A23 series.
The move follows Samsung’s decision last year to discontinue in-box chargers with the Galaxy S21 series.
While not offering a charger in the package may appear to be a bold move, Samsung isn’t the only major phone manufacturer apparently exploring it. Apple might follow suit by excluding a charger from last year’s iPhone lineup.
Removing chargers from phone boxes could be a key opportunity for the mobile giant to reduce sales costs and make phone packaging smaller, but it could also have a significant environmental impact.
Taking them out of some of the most popular smartphones could help minimize the number of chargers that go unused and are discarded because consumers already have a lot of them.
Samsung has a history of ridiculing and then replicating Apple’s decisions, whether it’s with notches, headphone jacks, microSD card slots, or now chargers.
In 2020, the corporation was caught red-handed erasing advertising mocking Apple’s decision not to include chargers with its iPhones after recognizing that doing so would be more profitable.
Not only that, but Samsung also seemed to copy Apple’s reasons, citing environmental benefits as the primary motivation for the change, despite the fact that selling chargers in separate small boxes might only result in additional waste.
While it appeared at first that the new strategy would only apply to top Galaxy phones, Samsung has suddenly surprised everyone by incorporating mid-range and entry-level devices as well.
Some of the victims have been identified by European retail sources, and include the Galaxy A13 and Galaxy A23, both of which were released earlier this week.
In any case, it’s safe to assume that Samsung is contemplating a charger-free future for all of its smartphone packagings. And if it succeeds, additional manufacturers may follow suit.