If You Want The New iPhone 12, You’ll Have To Buy Headphones, Adapters Separately

Apple’s (AAPL) much anticipated iPhone 12 model will not include headphones or power adapters – instead, users must now purchase these accessories separately.

In a press release to herald the arrival of the new iPhone, Apple said it did not include the items largely due to environmental and packaging concerns.

The company said it was “removing the power adapter and [headphones] from iPhone packaging, further reducing carbon emissions and avoiding the mining and use of precious materials, which enables smaller and lighter packaging, and allows for 70% more boxes to be shipped on a pallet.”

Apple claimed these measures will eliminate more than 2 million metric tons of carbon emissions annually – or the equivalent of removing almost 450,000 cars from the roads each year. Apple has said it wants to have a net-zero impact on the climate by 2030.

The company is estimated to sell about 11 million phones every quarter. (Depending on model and storage capacity, the new iPhones cost between $649 and $1,199).

Apple defended the decision to exclude headphones and adapters.

“Customers already have over 700 million… headphones, and many customers have moved to a wireless experience,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, at the unveiling. “There are also over 2 billion Apple power adapters out in the world, and that’s not counting the billions of third-party adapters.”

Yahoo Finance reported that by not including headphones in the packages, the sales of AirPods – its wireless headphones – will likely surge. (AirPods currently are list priced at $159).

While phone purchasers will be able to use their old headphones with the new iPhone model, there may be some trouble with the phone adapters.

Mashable noted that while new iPhones will come with a USB-C-to-Lightning cable, this cable is not compatible with existing iPhone power adapters.

“If you want to use your USB-C cable, you'll either need to purchase a special power adapter or share one with your MacBook -- assuming you have one of those,” Mashable wrote.

Mashable criticized Apple for this decision as it places “an additional burden” on consumers.

“If you have tons of old charging cables around your apartment, then this move might not matter much to you,” Mashable wrote. “If you don't, get ready to spend an extra $20.” (USB-C adapters currently list for between $19.99 and $24.99).

TechCrunch also criticized Apple for “creating an endless yearly cycle of questionably necessary replacements of perfectly good devices, or in making millions of accessories obsolete with choices like removing the headphone jack, but that’s to be expected.”