Apple has managed to dramatically reduce the packaging for the iPhone 12 because the superfluous charger and EarPods have been cut from the team for environmental reasons – but not in France.
Because of a health and safety law across the channel, Apple is still shipping the iPhone 12 with the EarPods headphones. As a result, Apple has decided to place the iPhone 12 box within a box.
The French authorities recommend using headphones when making calls due to fears over electromagnetic radiation and Apple is compelled to include a pair with its latest smartphone.
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The somewhat clunky anomaly emerged in a hands-on video published by French YouTuber TheiCollection, which you can see below:
Without the need for the headphones and the mains adapter, the iPhone 12 box looks decidedly sleek. All that remains beyond the handset is the Lightning cable, a SIM tool and the trusty Apple logo sticker.
The change has enabled Apple to fit 70% more handsets on a shipping pallet, which is an important part of its strategy to go completely carbon neutral by 2030. The company has pledged to hit net-zero emissions worldwide within the next decade, 20 years sooner than the IPCC target.
Of course, the company is also saving a massive amount of unnecessary plastic by nixing the mains plug and EarPods, which will hopefully see a reduction in the amount of e-waste that ends up in landfill every year. If you still feel the need to grab another plug and some decidedly sub-par earphones, Apple has reduced them both by £10/$10.
“We hope others will follow, making this impact even bigger for our planet,” says the leader of Apple’s environmental efforts Lisa Jackson. Unfortunately, using two boxes in France is a bit of a setback on that front.
Are you upset Apple has nixed some of the accessories from the iPhone 12 box? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.
Chris Smith is a freelance technology journalist for a host of UK tech publications, including Trusted Reviews. He’s based in South Florida, USA.
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