Apple Giving Away Free EarPods To iPhone 12 Buyers In France, Report Says

Apple has stopped shipping chargers and wired EarPods alongside every iPhone 12 series device purchased – except in France, where the company is required to send out the new handsets with the wired audio accessory.

According to a video uploaded to YouTube by French-speaking tech reviewer TheiCollection, the iPhone 12 series handsets that are shipped in France come in a bigger box than the ones shipped in other countries such as the U.S.

The iPhone 12 boxes in France appear to be the same size as the boxes used for previous models, which were designed to contain the iPhone model, a pair of wired EarPods, a charging cable, a charging brick and a few other things like instruction manuals.

That said, the iPhone 12 series units that are shipped in France come with wired EarPods, but they do not come with a charging brick. French consumers will still need to use an older charger or buy new ones from Apple, such as the new MagSafe charger.

Why is this?

The Cupertino tech giant is forced to do this in France because the country, in 2010, passed legislation that required smartphone companies to ship handsets with headphones included in the box.

The lawmakers behind the legislation, according to Cult of Mac, were concerned about the potentially harmful effects of pressing a cellular phone onto a person's ears when taking calls.

The law, then, provided France-based consumers with a way to make or take calls without having to put a cellular phone near their heads. They will not need to spend more money to buy headsets or earphones, wired or not.

Only in France

Interestingly, customers in other European countries will not receive a pair of wired EarPods bundled with their new iPhone 12 series devices. The legislation that required Apple to ship the audio accessory alongside the smartphone only takes effect in France and no other location.

This means Apple can still market its new Beats Flex wireless headphones, as well as the highly popular AirPods and AirPods Pro, to European consumers as much as other buyers.