Xiaomi is the latest smartphone maker to stop including chargers with new phones

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Xiaomi is the latest smartphone manufacturer to say they won’t be including a charging brick in the box for their upcoming handsets. CEO Lei Jun confirmed the change on Chinese social media site Weibo, citing “environmental concerns.” Where have we heard this before?

With most phone owners having multiple existing USB charging bricks, perhaps this new trend is warranted. Apple lead the pack by removing chargers from the iPhone 12 and the Apple Watch Series 6, and whatever Apple does, the rest of the smartphone makers usually copy eventually.

In this case, the change came rather quickly, only a few short months after Xiaomi mocked Apple for removing the charging brick. Samsung also joined in the mockery before quietly pulling those ads when they announced they wouldn’t be including chargers in the new Galaxy range.

With margins ever decreasing in the highly contested smartphone market, removing the charging brick will likely help their bottom line. The fact it’s environmentally friendly is likely a happy afterthought thought up by the marketing team to sell the change to consumers.

I’m all for this change in the short term. New forms of fast charging technology are in the works, even from Xiaomi themselves, but they’re still a few years off from public release. Until then, we really don’t need a new charger with every mobile device unless that device doesn’t use already-established connectors.

Do you think smartphone makers should be including a charger in the box? Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.