They did it with headphone jacks and now they’re going after chargers. After Apple and Samsung, Google will now drop the charging adapter from the Pixel 6’s box, according to a report by TheVerge.
The company has been shipping Pixel devices with USB-C Power Adapters so far, but seems to be taking the cost cutting route that competition like Apple, Samsung and many other Chinese smartphone firms have taken. It’s unclear whether Google will sell the charging bricks separately though, and the company still includes a charger on the Pixel 5a, which starts shipping later this month.
As reported by TheVerge, Google thinks “most people already have a USB-C charging brick”, which is why there’s “no longer a need” to include these charging bricks with Google’s devices. While the same argument has been used by many smartphone makers in the past, including Apple and Samsung, the iPhone maker had also cited environmental concerns when it took the charger out of the box.
And all these arguments are in fact correct as well, except that it doesn’t seem like phone makers are thinking of alternatives. Wireless charging is more than common nowadays, but Apple, Samsung and many others continue selling their charging bricks separately too. Which makes it hard to believe that these companies have the betterment of the world, or their consumers, at heart.
