- The Sony Xperia 10 VII ships without a USB charging cable
- This will save Sony money, but its environmental impact is less clear
- Other brands are likely to start doing the same.
In a move that was perhaps inevitable, a phone has now been launched without a USB charging cable in the box. That phone, the Sony Xperia 10 VII, probably isn’t one many people were planning to buy anyway, but it’s a notable change.
This news was brought to our attention thanks to Reddit poster Brick_Fish (via Android Authority), who shared an image of the contents of the box without a charger on Reddit, along with a photo of the box itself, which has an image of a cable with a line running through it, indicating that a charging cable is not included.
Since Sony doesn’t include a cable in the box with this phone, it seems likely that future Sony Xperia phones will ship without a cable as well, and having seen Sony do this, we wouldn’t be surprised if other manufacturers follow suit.
After all, most smartphones have long shipped without a charging brick, so this move is a logical extension of that approach. On the other hand, Apple was the first to abandon them and Sony’s decisions probably won’t have the same impact.
But as Android Authority points out, Apple itself recently shipped the AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 3 without included USB cables, so with or without this move from Sony, there’s a good chance Apple could start shipping iPhones without cables as well.
The reasoning for this is presumably the same as it was with charging bricks: namely, that electronic devices have required USB cables for so long that most buyers probably already have plenty of them.
An environmental –and financial– impact
As such, they arguably don’t need one to be included in new purchases, so by not manufacturing or shipping cables, Sony is potentially being more environmentally friendly by reducing e-waste.
Of course, while that’s the argument, not shipping cables or charging bricks with phones also saves manufacturers money, and that’s probably been the main factor in removing charging bricks from boxes, and now in Sony’s decision here.
And ultimately, that might be a better justification, because the environmental impact of not including charging cables isn’t entirely clear.
While not everyone who buys this phone will need to go out and buy a cable, some buyers inevitably will, and that will result in additional packaging that wouldn’t be necessary if the cable was only included in the box.
Additionally, as responded to the Reddit post note, those cables that people buy separately may, in many cases, be lower quality third-party options, which may not work as well, making them worse for buyers, and may not last as long, making them worse for the environment as well.
So it’s unclear whether this is actually a good or bad move for people and the planet, but it’s almost certainly a good move for Sony’s bank balance and, for that reason, other brands are likely to follow suit.
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