Controversial iPhone 12 decision copied by yet another smartphone competitor

Remember when Apple made the divisive decision to ship the iPhone 12 with no charger in the box? People were certainly up in arms about it, and now there's a new phone making the same controversial move.

The Xiaomi M11 will not include a charger in the box. If you're upgrading from the previous model, the Mi 10T Pro, no sweat. If not, you'll need to make an additional purchase to get your hands on a Xiaomi charger.

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Confirmation of the lack of a charger comes from Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun. A status update on Chinese social media site Weibo (as translated by The Verge) stated the following: "In response to the call of technology and environmental protection, the included charger is canceled from the box. Is there a better solution between industry practice and environmental protection?"

The reason for Xiaomi's decision is made clear in the post. Excluding a charger is an environmentally conscious move, but it is still hypocritical. Shortly after Apple announced its intention to remove the charger from the iPhone 12 box, Xiaomi made a cheeky tweet in response. Claiming it "didn't leave anything out of the box," the tweet included a short video of the Mi 10T Pro, which was opened to reveal a charger. You can watch it yourself below:

The snarky video now looks like quite the faux pas, given the announcement of no charger in the Mi 11 box. However, Xiaomi isn't the only phone maker with egg on its face right now.

Samsung ridiculed the iPhone 12 for the same reasons around the same time as Xiaomi. In Facebook ads that have since been deleted, the Galaxy S20 charger was shown, along with the simple message, "included with your Galaxy." Taking it a step further, the accompanying text read, "Your #Galaxy does give you what you are looking for. From the most basic as a charger, to the best camera, battery, performance, memory and even 120Hz screen on a smartphone."

Much like Xiaomi, Samsung may soon be eating its words. The Mi 11 is confirmed to have no charger in the box, while reports say that Samsung is scrapping its charger from the box too. We've yet to hear any official word, but it seems the Samsung Galaxy S21 will be following in the footsteps of the iPhone 12 and Mi 11.

Excluding a charger is the new smartphone trend, it seems. We'll have to see what other environmentally conscious move comes next.

Source: The Verge