7'

Xiaomi might soon stop shipping chargers with its phones

Yash GargJune 17, 2015

Xiaomi is a very practical maker. It was Xiaomi that spurred off the trend of not including earphones in its smartphone retail packages… and companies have followed suit.

We’re living in an age where most have more than just one smart device. All of these devices ship with chargers, and people are in fact spending on standalone chargers. This makes the bundles adapters obsolete… not only does this increase costs, but also results in the environment being hurt.

This is perhaps why Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun is considering shipping Xiaomi devices without chargers. Of course if this does happen, chargers will be available for purchase.

Join GizChina on Telegram

I’m personally liking where this is heading. It only makes sense. Commercial and environmental sense. It might take a long while to implement, especially in developing markets where people don’t often own as many smart devices as their developed market counterparts. And that’s the most interesting bit to look out for, because developing markets are the ones that happen to be Xiaomi’s target.

What do you feel about this? Do you think you’d purchase a phone charger-free, lets say for a couple of dollars off the price? Of course you wouldn’t be doing that to save the two dollars.

[ Via, Image source]

Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.

About the author
Yash Garg
Yash is a blogger by profession, builder of things by passion and foodie by birth. You'll usually find him talking about technology, music, travel and the game of cricket on the streets of Pune when not busy writing or speeding his way through the country! Read more on retro handheld gaming on RETRO91

You can learn more about Yash, add him to your Google+ circles or follow him on Twitter to stay connected!

- tartempion & Co
  June 17, 2015
Mrinal
June 17, 2015
Kind of feels more like a marketing thing to me. I think they’ll charge more for the charger than they would deduct from the phone price. Meaning you’ll end up paying more. Almost everyone I know can never have too many chargers; some breaking, some getting lost, one for the bedroom, others for in the bag, living room etc. So I for one do not agree to this unless they bring the price of te phone down enough to buy a charger and not pay more than we’re used to.

Airyl
June 17, 2015
I don’t really care. Sure more than one is always good, but chargers are literally indispensable these days. If you lose one, chances are you can walk out and buy another for pretty cheap.
Chico Migraña
June 17, 2015
What if you have a 1A charger and new phone is 2A?
- Marius Cirsta
  June 17, 2015
  This is indeed what I was thinking too. With different new rapid charging techniques it won’t be quite as easy to use the same charger or a standard one.
  I suppose this only makes sense for very cheap phones. If the phone costs $400 then a 5$ ( and that’s pushing it ) charger doesn’t make much of a difference and you probably have a custom charger for this phone anyway.
  For RC toys you have the option of buying it with or without remote ( if you already own one) and I see no reason not to implement this with phone. Earphones could also be missing so you’d just get the bare phone, nothing else or phone + earphone and charger.
avi
June 17, 2015
This would also resolve the problem with plug type incompatibility.
Adam Irvine
June 17, 2015
Yep, sounds good to me as NONE of the Chinese phones I’ve ever purchased have ever come with a ‘TRUE’ adapter for my market anyway… (UK)

mf1gt3r
June 17, 2015
A lot of touch synthesizers have been dying due to poorly designed chargers and incompatible chargers. This definitely won’t work in Africa as getting good chargers is difficult and quite expensive.

Dave Weinstein
June 17, 2015
I guess it depends upon where the money goes. If it’s only $2 or $3 off the price, then NO! I can’t buy a charger for that price and it’s just adding margin and setting a new profit expectation. If they take off the REAL cost of a charger, then it’s a good deal.
It’s not equitable if a vendor calculate their price (including margin and channel costs), then subtracts the wholesale parts cost of the piece we’re not getting… and still keeps the extra margin.
Rob
June 17, 2015
I’ve got a draw full of Chinese chargers that are still sealed and unused so this makes complete sense and if I remember rightly this is something that the EU wants to implement anyway for environmental reasons. Since 99% of phones use the same charger then it’s not a big deal, if a high end phone requires a special charger (i.e fast charging or similar) then it should come with it, otherwise not.

Marc
June 17, 2015
And then people want to save 2 bugs and buy another ultra cheap chinese stuff instead of a 5 dollar proved electricity charger.. Let it burn
Natsumi
June 17, 2015
Foolish manufacturers…

Xalis
June 17, 2015
Fuck that, I need quality chargers with my phones, not the shit I can buy in my country rated at 1A that delivers 0.4A and will burst into flames later or sooner, plus the price of that shit quality chargers is about $7 on my country, and a Samsung original charger goes all the way to the $15 dollars, I doubt Xiaomi will take $15 from the price tag, this is a shitty move for developing markets.
Another retarded move from Xiaomi.

Ruby
June 17, 2015
Recently heard in the Xiaomi board room…
Lei Jun: “OK everyone, thinking caps on! The IDC report ‘Smartphone Vendor Market Share for Q1/15’ is in and it’s not pretty. LG just surpassed us for the #5 spot worldwide. We’re going to loose millions unless we do something and fast.”
Low-Level Director: “Um, the Europeans are always looking for ways to claim that they’re ‘Greener’ than anyone else. Why don’t we exclude the charger and USB cable and tell them we’re doing it to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (laughter). We can save more than $60 million USD by leaving it out of the box and making the packaging smaller. Plus, it makes us look like we’re on board with the Europeans in trying to save the world (louder laughter).”
Lei Jun:”OK, here’s what we’re going to do – we’re going to leave the charger out of the box and make the packaging smaller.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNCrMEOqHpc
manohar basavaraju
June 17, 2015
cheap little Marketting trick to earn that little extra Money !!! This is their beginning to their Decline !
Muhammad Yasir
June 17, 2015
CUNTS!
so XIAOMI were the ones to STOP including earphones with their devices…
well , not only does that grind my ears … but it REALLY pisses me off :@ !
SCREW YOU XIAOMI FOR BEING LOUSY CHEAPSTAKES !
- Laurence02
  June 18, 2015