Apple stopped bundling wall charger and EarPods with all of its iPhones, citing environmental reasons. As expected, companies like Samsung and Xiaomi took a potshot at Apple for not bundling chargers. Others pointed out how Apple is saving money and labeling the effort as “saving the environment.” A South Korean news outlet alleges that Samsung is thinking about not offering wall chargers with new smartphones. However, the decision is not final and is still pending.

Currently, Samsung bundles wall charger, USB cable, and wired earphones with the S-Series smartphone. It has been doing so for many years. We are not sure the extent to which the environment will be saved by ditching in-box accessories. However, Samsung will stand to save a substantial amount of money in logistics costs and the accessories themselves. Moreover, this move is likely to increase revenue from selling accessories like Galaxy Buds.

According to the source, Samsung is considering removing accessories only from the flagship series. It is not clear if they will extend the same to other segments as well. Samsung Galaxy S21 has already been leaked, and we are sure more information will be leaked as we near the launch date.

Our Take

We couldn’t help but notice how Samsung and other companies take potshots at Apple and then implement the same thing on their devices. Samsung mocked Apple for removing the 3. (taylorsmithconsulting) 5mm headphone jack on the iPhone 7 in 2016. Last year the company did the same on Galaxy Note 10.

In our opinion, Samsung might ditch the charger and earbuds on their premium offering to offset the increase in cost. It would be challenging to do so in other segments, especially the budget tier.