Smartphone chargers are more powerful than ever, and charging times are now so short that the battery in some phones can go from 0% to 100% in longer than it takes to watch an episode of Rick and Morty Time is short.This is all done using a special proprietary charging block and cable that comes in the box with your phone.
Unless, of course, you buy a Samsung or Apple phone.In this case, the charger isn’t in the box at all, a move both companies say is good for the environment.Does that mean the company that includes the charger doesn’t care about the environment, or that you — as a buyer who wants to enjoy super-fast charging speeds — don’t either?
Samsung has a section on its website explaining why it removes the charging block and earphones from the box of many devices, starting with the Galaxy S21 series.The latest Galaxy S22 series doesn’t come with a charging block or earphones, neither does the latest A-series phones, nor does Samsung’s cheapest M-series phones, rumor has it.
The rationale is clear: “Samsung believes that removing headphone and charger plugs from our built-in device packaging will help address the growing problem of e-waste and the unnecessary duplication of these items.”
Starting with the 2020 iPhone 12, Apple took the charger and earphones out of the box and talked about the benefits of shrinking the package.At the iPhone 12 launch event, it claimed that putting 70 percent of the product on a shipping pallet, plus removing accessories, would reduce carbon emissions by 2 million tons per year.It also doesn’t include a charging block for the Apple Watch.
The motivation to remove items from the box and shrink the packaging revolves around environmental benefits, but it also saves the company money.Despite the addition of new technology, including 5G, the decision helped Apple not increase the cost of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Mini instead of the iPhone 11, according to Counterpoint Research.
If taking the charger out of the box is better for the environment and a nice cost-saving measure, why aren’t all phone makers on board?Aside from Apple and Samsung, many companies are using proprietary fast-charging systems as a selling point to differentiate the latest hardware from the competition.After all, neither Apple nor Samsung can match the charging speeds offered by Oppo, Realme and Xiaomi.
But are the benefits of faster battery charging worth the environmental trade-off?Realme believes this is an issue that needs to be looked at in a different way.
“We believe that sustainability should not be defined by cancellation, but rather by delivering new solutions with technological innovations that we can ultimately solve without sacrificing our customers,” the company said in an email Tell Digital Trends.
Realme announced its 150-watt UltraDart Charge technology during Mobile World Congress 2022.It can charge the battery to 50% capacity in just five minutes and will be available on the Realme GT Neo 3 in the near future.To make it work, you’ll need the included charging block and cable.
Madhev Sheth, president of Realme’s international business group, further explained how the company addresses sustainability issues in other areas.
“Although only a 3-year-old upstart, we are making steady progress towards becoming an eco-friendly and sustainable technology company, aiming to have a positive impact on the environment by reducing carbon emissions and making sustainability more accessible to our customers. We have been exploring various a way to pursue cleaner, more sustainable operations,” he told Digital Trends in an email.
“Realme aims to reduce the carbon footprint of its GT series of smartphones by 50% within five years by minimizing its carbon footprint throughout its lifecycle, from material selection to design, manufacturing, packaging, usage and the end. , recycled. The GT 2 Pro is the first smartphone to use biopolymers throughout the rear panel, reducing its carbon footprint by 35.5% during its manufacture. Compared to pure petroleum-based materials, this biopolymer per Production of one kilogram reduces carbon emissions by two kilograms. The proportion of plastic used in mobile phone packaging has also dropped from 21.7% to just 0.3%.
Oppo is in the same family as Realme, and its smartphones also come with fast chargers.The Find X5 Pro’s battery can be charged to 50% in 12 minutes and fully charged in 30 minutes using the included SuperVOOC charger.In an email reply to the same question to Realme, the company said:
“Oppo’s proprietary fast charging technology is the main advantage of the Find X5 Pro. This extremely convenient fast charging only works with compatible chargers, so Oppo has worked hard to add value to customers by including the fast charger in the box. Through hardware and software optimization, OPPO is committed to increasing the battery life of the Find X5 Pro to 1,600 cycles. This is twice the industry average, keeping the device battery healthy for longer, thereby reducing e-waste in other ways.”
Xiaomi has a 120W HyperCharge fast-charging system that, like the others here, requires a proprietary block and cable.It’s amazingly fast, charging a 5,000mAh battery in about 15 minutes.In response to our question, Xiaomi replied in the email:
“Xiaomi has chargers that come with and do not come, and this is assessed on a case-by-case basis. For example, for our recent global devices with 120W HyperCharge, we don’t think most end users will have chargers that come with that standard, so will They are included. We have also taken sustainability measures, such as continuously reducing the packaging plastic in our smartphone packaging since 2020.”
Much has been written about whether unpacking chargers is as good for the environment as the company wants you to think, but the general consensus is that yes, everything helps.However, experts also say there are other ways – some more important than others – that these companies can play a role, and that’s where Realme, Oppo and Xiaomi seem to justify the continued inclusion of chargers.
Then there’s a consideration, if you want to take full advantage of the faster charging speeds, you’ll need a special charger anyway.When powering the Galaxy S22 Ultra, Samsung charges $50 for top speed for its 45W charger, while Apple charges $59 for its 67W charging block.Are you really saving anything if you buy one of these just to get the fastest speeds your phone charging system has to offer?
If you are buying a new phone with a proprietary fast charger and are concerned it will have an effect over time, try to keep the device in place for longer than usual and carefully consider how to recycle your old phone equipment and related peripheral equipment.
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Post time: Apr-06-2022