1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,040 Apple made waves when they announced in 2020 that they would no longer be including a power brick 2 00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:09,760 in the box with the iPhone 12, but it isn't just Apple that's seemingly being cheap. 3 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:13,520 Lots of smaller electronics these days aren't coming with wall words either. They'll probably 4 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:18,720 give you a USB cable for charging, but to actually plug it into the wall, you'll have to BYOB. 5 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:25,280 Bring your own brick. So what exactly is behind this trend other than, you know, the fact that Apple 6 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:31,200 is able to charge the same princely sum for its i-stuff even without including a charger, 7 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:35,840 and therefore make an even larger profit. And don't kid yourselves, that is part of the reason. 8 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:39,520 Obviously, a charger doesn't cost nearly as much to produce as a smartphone, 9 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:45,120 but when you're making that many of them, the costs add up, especially for a company like Apple, 10 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:49,520 which actually does engineer its chargers to quite a high standard. 11 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:54,320 But before you flame in the comment section and accuse me of being an Apple fanboy, 12 00:00:54,320 --> 00:01:00,080 teardowns done of iPhone chargers have shown they're pretty reliable, well-made pieces of kit. 13 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:04,880 And Apple isn't alone in this, as other phone manufacturers have typically included chargers 14 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:09,280 of a better quality than generic ones you might find on an Amazon or Aliexpress. 15 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,880 Better chargers take a little more money to make than cheap ones that might 16 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:18,640 break easily or crap out after just a few months of use. And even though Apple might only be making 17 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:23,120 1% more profit on their phones by not including power bricks, according to one estimate, 18 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:28,720 that's still a huge amount of money when you consider Apple made nearly $29 billion in profit 19 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:34,080 during the first fiscal quarter of 2021. Now, from Apple's perspective, the decision kind 20 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:39,200 of makes sense when you think about how many old, but perfectly good chargers there are 21 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:44,000 just floating around out there from our past. Think about all of the USB wallwards you've 22 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:49,040 accumulated over the years that came with your phone or your tablet or your Wi-Fi-enabled 23 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:55,040 In fact, around a million tons of chargers are manufactured every year. 24 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:58,960 That's like having 100 Eiffel towers made of chargers. 25 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:05,280 Unsurprisingly, this has led to pressure from consumers and governments to reduce the amount 26 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:09,600 of electronic waste floating around out here. So lots of gadget makers are now assuming that 27 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:14,880 you've either got an old brick laying around to spare or that you've got power strips or even 28 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:19,840 full-on outlets that have USB ports built into them, which have become more common over the past 29 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:23,840 few years. Apple has even come out and claimed part of the reason that they don't want to dish the 30 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:29,040 Lightning connector in favor of USB-C is that it would create a tremendous amount of e-waste after 31 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:33,680 people throw out their old Lightning accessories that would no longer work with their newer Apple 32 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:38,000 devices should they make that change. Of course, the e-waste problem is a lot bigger than just 33 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,800 how many extra wallwards we have. Plenty of companies are making gadgets with rechargeable 34 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:46,880 batteries that are sealed up inside the device, making them very difficult to replace 35 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:51,600 and potentially inducing consumers to throw them away sooner than the otherwise might. 36 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:55,920 And many of these devices are made by the same companies that make smartphones, 37 00:02:55,920 --> 00:03:01,840 think Apple's AirPods, for example. There's also the snag that an older one or two amp charger 38 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:06,000 might technically work just fine with a brand new device, but many new phones support fast 39 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:10,720 charging, which you'd need to buy a new adapter to take advantage of, either from a third party 40 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:15,920 or directly from your device's manufacturer. And you guessed it, selling it separately makes them 41 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:21,920 more money. Yeah. But regardless of how much companies are actually concerned about the 42 00:03:21,920 --> 00:03:26,960 environment and waste versus just being on a quest for profit, it looks like not getting a 43 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:31,680 charger in the box, either with phones or other gadgets like headphones, is a trend that isn't 44 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:36,800 going away anytime soon. I just hope they don't do the same with the cable, but let's not give them 45 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:42,640 any ideas. You know what? I actually saw a charging pad that didn't have a wall wart, like 46 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:47,120 it's required to function. The thing is for charging, it must be in the wall to work and it 47 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:50,800 didn't come with it. It was insane. So thanks for watching guys. 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