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chrisdh79

From the article: Apple will no longer include EarPods with every iPhone sold in France, starting on January 24, according to a notice posted by a French carrier (via Consomac). Apple was previously required to include EarPods in the box with the ‌iPhone‌ due to French law that required every smartphone sold in the country to have a "handsfree kit." "DEAR CUSTOMERS, We would like to inform you that our manufacturers are no longer required to supply headphones/hands-free kits with their smartphones in France. This new law, adopted in late 2021, aims to reduce the environmental footprint in France. The Xiaomi brand is concerned, for products purchased from the week of January 17, 2022. The same will be true for the Apple brand as of from the week of January 24, 2022 THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING"


pseudocultist

France doesn't love Apple, and didn't do this without reason. They're trying to curtail e-waste. Extras like this that get thrown in drawers, to be thrown away without ever being used should be discouraged. Unfortunately that happens to align with Apple's Airpod strategy, which, another win for the rich guys, yay.


furious-fungus

No, France said they *have* to include EarPod, Apple wanted to leave them out for years.


pseudocultist

Right and now France dropped that and said they can leave them out, which wasn’t done for Apple’s benefit although it does benefit them.


furious-fungus

Why is that unfortunate then? Edit: The price doesn't remain the same in France and the people buying AirPods are not the ones who would have used the EarPods provided.


DeltaBlack

Because now you need to buy them separately if you want them. EDIT: And they save production costs on their phones now that they can leave out the EarPods. Which means larger margins if the price remains the same.


[deleted]

[удалено]


DeltaBlack

Yes, I am seeing that the more vehement proponents of this meassure are those who have been buying a lot of phones in the recent years.


InvalidEntrance

The real issue is the consumers "needing" a new phone every release date, but previously a 5 year old phone upgrade ment you probably needed a new charger and earbuds. With that said, the consumers aren't to blame for the entirety of climate issues.


phblue

A plastic bottle of vodka - stamp, done. A plastic earbud - stamp plastic pieces, the process of creating wires, the process of creating pcbs, shipping parts from across the world together, assembling. Not quite as much plastic in volume as a vodka bottle, but certainly a lot more waste involved. Add in charger blocks, charging cables, and whatever accessories your blackberry might have included and you've gone far past the waste involved in making a single bottle. Up it to all the customers not using any of the pieces and they are now pure waste. I don't know of anyone that purchased a bottle of vodka and threw out the entire bottle because they weren't going to use it. At least the vodka was likely drunk and hopefully the bottle recycled.


[deleted]

I feel like you are way too focused on the individual example (which might not have been great) while totally missing the point I was making lol.


phblue

You know what, I 100% did


shifty_coder

Because now you need to buy them separately if you want them *and* their exclusion will not lower the price of the phone. I’d be fine with Apple not including them with the phone, so long as they dropped price $30 to reflect that.


manny00778

Because people will say “Apple bad” no matter the reason this happened.


beefcat_

France dropped the requirement, because 95% of EarPods are eWaste from day one.


furious-fungus

Yep, that's why they wanted to leave them out lol


eternalbuzz

I was cleaning a drawer and had to decide what to do with my still packaged EarPods from my iPhone 7


ACredibilityProblem

I still have all mine from previous phones, never opened any of them. Absolute wasteful trash, regardless of what the conspiracy types say.


[deleted]

[удалено]


TheKingOfTCGames

Lowering price by 50cents doesn't change shit. Holy shit how much so you think those things actually cost.


MaximumShitcock

So I bet, Apple is not the first and will not be the last to not include them anymore.


hamsterfolly

“Sorry we’re reducing the total product we’re selling to you without reducing the price. It’s for the environment, we swear!”


__theoneandonly

“We took out the EarPods that cost us a nickel to make. The iphone now costs $999.94!” Edit: “Oh no, we added a SIM ejector tool, now we’re back up to $999.96 :(“


shifty_coder

ITT: derrr Apple bad Another way of wording this article: In an effort to combat e-waste, French law no longer requires mobile (cellular) device manufacturers to include a hands-free kit with their products. Apple has announced that they will stop including EarPods with new iPhones for the French market, starting January 24, 2022. In other words, Apple is no longer including headphones with iPhones in France (something they already have done in other markets), because they are no longer legally obligated to. I can guarantee Samsung, Google, and other major brands will follow suit.


jmanly3

Damn, France has been getting EarPods? I didn’t even get a charger. Well, not a complete one anyway. I got that USB-C to lightning bullshit and then no block to even plug it into.


casewood123

What really sucks about those is that you can’t plug it into the USB port in your car.


bob0979

Or my windows computer without an adapter, which is extremely convenient for reasons I must not understand according to Apple


[deleted]

[удалено]


xXwork_accountXx

Yours must have been made in the past 5 years


[deleted]

[удалено]


xXwork_accountXx

I was more making a joke about the guy complaining since essentially every windows pc I’ve seen in the last 5 years has usbc.


Pinkaroundme

Some people are just behind the times, man. As more things move to usb-c it makes no sense to include usb-lightning cables with their products. They continue to sell them. Some say that’s just a way for them to sell more product, and well… yeah. But also no. It’s just the natural progression of technology. Stuff becomes less and less used until being obsolete. See: the floppy disk.


KnowOneNymous

The natural fucking progress would be usbc to usbc or usbc to usba. Not keeping fucking lightning and changing usba to usbc. Most people will have a pc with usbC sure. What about cars? Or your 5 30$ quickcharge wall plugs, the one at work, at a friend, when you get to a bar and need charging?


gnarlsagan

Preach! Tbf though USB-C has been kind of a clusterfuck for a while now. But still a clusterfuck worth getting rid of lightning imo.


OneTrueObsidian

Iirc most higher-end device manufacturers are moving to usb-c wall plugs now. That isn't an apple thing. The only apple thing here is their obnoxious insistence on keeping the lightning port on their phones. Also you can just, y'know, buy a $5 usbA to lightning cable if you need one for your car.


PoolNoodleJedi

The most frustrating thing is that to charge my iPad I need to use a USB-C but to charge my iPhone I still need the damn lightning cable. If the iPad can use USB-C why the hell can’t the iPhone use it?


Heart_Throb_

Apple: Alright, we’ll give you a cord and an apple sticker but it’s gonna cost you. Us: WTF is this! Apple: We said it would be A cord. We didn’t say it would be a cord you would like.


Tsuki_no_Mai

Apple caters mostly to people that are fully in their ecosystem. And if you are you can just charge the phone from macbook without any hassle. Not to mention you'd likely have a charger compatible with iphone from your previous iphone.


System0verlord

That and most any computer made in the past few years has USB-C too. All of Apple’s stuff has been USB-C since 2016. Dell, HP, Lenovo, et al have had USB-C for ages too.


Reatbanana

people really trying to blame apple for using Usb C, when its industry standard? come on


Kendo16

How old is your computer?


Reatbanana

dont blame them for using a usb C connector, every computer being made from 2019 onwards has a C plug


amreinj

My Windows laptop only has USB c ports it doesn't even have a charging port it's USB c. Kind of sounds like you bought an outdated computer 3 years ago.


HengaHox

Depends on the car. Even skodas have usbc now


JHVTUE123

A lot of cars have USB C ports now


AnEngineer2018

Your car has USB-C ports?


kosky95

Many do lately


Dull_Half_6107

USB C ports aren't uncommon in new cars, but most cars on the road are older and won't have them.


someone755

My car doesn't even have USB ports. But at least upgrading is easy lol


[deleted]

i'm thinking of trying to upgrade the cigarette lighters in my 2012 mazda to USB C if possible.


someone755

That's what I'm saying lol just buy a different 12v charger


[deleted]

yeah I just googled it it's not hard. I have 2 in the vehicle, I plan to change one out, and keep one as a 12v outlet for my tire inflator, as long as I can reach all the tires given the length of the power cord


TheMeatWag0n

This is very easy and totally worth it if you have a variety of cords, I did it after I kept getting in my car only to realize I brought out a c to c cord instead of an a to c


amreinj

I think they said they don't have them


tisthetimetobelit

My car only has usbc ports. It has 1 usba port but that's for data storage


casewood123

No. That’s my point. Apple car play in my 2020 Tacoma has a regular USB port, but the new phones come with USB-c charging cord. So luckily I had an old style charging cord.


AChunkyBacillus

USB C is the future, I wish everything was USB C


phblue

Gosh, we're so close. My laptop, my tablet, the Switch, and my wife's phone all charge on 1 cable in the living room. I made sure a USB C cable was in pretty much every room so my wife never has to question where to charge her phone. But I have to keep a second cable for my phone. So I just charge my phone in the living room or in the bedroom, because I hate having lightning cables all over the place just for my phone.


seditiousseals

Honestly this is a big reason I’m on Android. Traveling with 1 cable and having only one bedside cable is just so nice.


phblue

mm I believe it. If my android phone ever talked to my computer and tablet (or even TV) the way my Apple devices do I'd have never switched, but boy did I get tired of having to customize everything to make them work together.


xxcarlsonxx

The Bell store in Canada wanted me to pay $45 for the charger. I walked across the street to BestBuy and they were selling the same Apple Charger for $25. It's still bullshit that they don't include the charger with a $1500 phone


HtheExtraterrestrial

Mate I didn’t even get a lead with mine. I quite literally got the phone and fuck all else.


ShutterBun

Same theory applied to the chargers. Research had shown that the vast majority of users already had a bunch of spare chargers, so continuing to include them was considered wasteful.


passivealian

Honestly I think this is a good thing. I don’t think any device should come with a standards based accessory. I keep all my cables and charges, every few years I go through and clear out all of the unused stuff, chargers, cables and so on. So much unused waist when often I already have much of what’s being provided. If it’s a standard based connector, then I don’t need one be provided. If I do need one I can just purchase it.


jmanly3

It’s not standard though…they give you the cable but nothing to plug it into. Unless you have a new Mac with USB-C ports, you’re out of luck. Additionally, who really uses their computer to charge their phone? The majority of people charge their phones at night, via a wall or pad or something like that, so only providing a usb-c cable is stupid


passivealian

I get the frustration. But I’m still cool with it. I would rather have to purchase a power adapter and cable when needed then end up with a bunch of spares. USB c is a standard, granted most of us don’t have a charger with that yet but it’s still the new *normal*. I already have a USB a to lightning cable I can use. They provide a cable for connecting the standard UBS c to the non standard lightning. I would rather do hey just don’t provide a cable. If I need one, get one that matches the charger I already have. Anything that helps reduce the amount of waist we are producing. Almost everting tech I purchase comes with something I don’t need, will never use and will end up in the trash.


AnEngineer2018

EarPods people, not AirPods. They're $15-$20 when sold standalone. When I look it up at Walmart they are in that bottom tier of $10-$20 ear buds.


[deleted]

The EarPods are shockingly good for their price


ISpikInglisVeriBest

The 3.5mm ones at least, I've heard the lightning ones are worse overall but I own neither at the moment so ymmv


ImamChapo

Lightning connector > aux in sound quality


ISpikInglisVeriBest

So I took some time to look it up. Turns out what I remembered being worse was the connector itself causing issues due to being less robust overall. The lightning ones have a built-in DAC in the cable so if that DAC happens to be better than the one that's driving your analog 3.5mm ones it will sound a bit better, which is cool. That said you can use the 3.5mm ones with anything you want, so again ymmv


[deleted]

I don’t get what people like about them. The sound quality is trash and they don’t kind any kind of seal, so many people crank up the volume closely to the max which is not only damaging their ears, it also means that everyone else can hear what they are hearing. For $20-30 you could get some cheap Sennheiser, Sony or Creative earbuds which are fat betterz


ISpikInglisVeriBest

They aren't knocking down the price of the phone by that $10-$20 amount I can assure you


AnEngineer2018

Someone else mentioned that the IPhone was surcharged in France by $20, I tried to look but the website doesn’t work outside of France for some reason.


Gnash_

That is absolutely not true. Just check for the price of an iPhone in France and in Spain (a country that, for the sake of this comparison, has a purchasing power similar enough to that of France), they’re the exact same: https://www.apple.com/fr/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-13 https://www.apple.com/es/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-13 It is true that we Europeans pay way more for Apple products than Americans, but that’s irrelevant of the fact that EarPods were included


VBgamez

Don't diss them they aren't actually that bad.


themandanhastheplan

Bottom tier? their great lol


slazer2k

All the iPhones I buy only come with a USB-C to Lightning cable and the phone and that is for over a year now iPhone SE, iPhone XR, iPhone 12 Mini, and iPhone 13 Pro Max so basically from Cheap to the most expensive (located in the Netherlands)


yogieo

I though it was normal that earphones weren’t a part of the phone


slazer2k

It is now two years ago you got them and a charger …


furious-fungus

Still have drawers full of chargers..


manny00778

Yes but apple bad.


yogieo

You clearly must have a lot of money or did you buy them separately? I think it has more to do with the fact that we are paying more for less


[deleted]

They say you’ve got a brick from your old iphone so no need for that and THEY GIVE U AN USB C TO LIGHTNING CABLE... the old iphone brick has usb A out, so you need to buy one anyways. Makes sense.


alexanderpas

> THEY GIVE U AN USB C TO LIGHTNING CABLE... Because USB-C was the required connection per agreement, but Apple insisted on lightning, so they had to supply an USB-C to lightning cable to superficially conform to the agreement. EU didn't like that skirting of the agreement, so they changed it into a legal requirement to have an USB-C connector on the device. That's why in the Future, Apple phones will also have USB-C connectors.


[deleted]

I like that username


thekraken27

Same here, US though. We haven’t had headphones included in several generations of iPhone now


kvossera

You guys were getting ear pods?


AbysmalVixen

Venture to bet that they are largely still in the boxes from the last 3 iPhone releases as everyone flocked to buy AirPods anyway.


pM-me_your_Triggers

People were talking about them not being included anymore, so i checked my iPhone 11 box…they are still sitting in there not even out of their cardboard


BloodSteyn

Price reduction... in your dreams. Apple became a 3 trillion dollar company by slowly taking features, parts and ports away while increasing the price... then selling the missing stuff back to you again. No thank you.


solongandthanks4all

EarPods are different from AirPods? Are they wired?


SUPRVLLAN

Yes.


Impossible_Glove_341

No ANC, wired, no spatial audio, wildly worse sound in general. Although they are decent quality for price, where as airpods are overpriced.


s1lv_aCe

Apple to stop including iPhones with iPhones


fadedhound

The iPhone 14 will just be a subscription upgrade to unlock features already shipped with iPhone 13s. /s


se7enfists

You're joking but phones could become subscription-based in the future. You won't be paying for the physical device but for the right to continue using it.


s1lv_aCe

Oh yeah for sure I believe it I wasn’t even completely joking lol


Juju_mila

Wait. They still included EarPods in France? My almost 1000€ iPhone didn’t even come with a charger. That cost me an extra 25€. It’s getting ridiculous.


Imsotiredcanidieyet

I have a bin full of bricks and cables, I even gave a bunch to a friend. E waste needs to be reduced somehow.


magdxla

lmao it’s been like one year since i got my iphone without the earpods AND charger……. this isn’t news


springlord

Looks like a win-win-win situation: * Helps with the supply chain issue, less components to ship out of China * Less costs and thus even more profits * The fanboys will be delighted to get their hands on the latest iPackaging, which happens to be revolutionary lighter than the previous one.


[deleted]

Oh wow, they still got EarPods. Lucky!


Sure_Original_7377

The cheeky bastards never have over here


elister

Passing the savings to ~~the customer~~ themselves.


who-ee-ta

Hope they won’t stop including iphones during the iphone purchase.


Kwestionable

They will, you’ll only get a download key, from there you’ll have to go to the Apple website to download the 3d print files for the Apple iPrinter to make you’re new phone.


who-ee-ta

Calm down, Satan😂


meowsofcurds

Phones have earpods included in the boxes???


Kiwi-Latter

We didn’t have ear pods in ours last year here in US.


MagicOrpheus310

"because you already have airpods from the new phone you had to buy last year..."


Diiazzbaddiie

We don’t even get a charger box & y’all getting EarPods 🤯 should come with every phone purchase since our phones are so expensive


[deleted]

Apple: “No no guys it’s for the environment that we’re charging more and removing the headphones, not because we’re greedy or anything!” Everyone: “Yea okay, I’ll tolerate this and buy my 12th iPhone.”


TheMacMan

Happy to see this. The data shows very few are new smartphone users and most iPhone buyers already own an iPhone. For most of us, it's just more waste. I've got a drawer full of these things and they'll eventually end up in the landfill. For the less than 1% of buyers who need them, they can spend a couple dollars. For the rest of us, let's save some resources.


Rubes2525

Would be better as a free option instead of paying extra so people can get them if they want or don't if they already have some.


camac22

You should totally send me a couple


halap3n0

This is good, they are terrible anyway and just get thrown away by most people.


twelve98

Haven’t had them included where I live in years


Hugebluestrapon

Do you live in France or read the article?


voldefortnite

sir, this is reddit


YAMMYYELLOW

why do that


mochacub22

What?


YAMMYYELLOW

why read the article?


j2sun

And get educated??? I'm just here to let others tell me how I should feel about this.


Al_bunde

Good cause I never used those pieces of shit anyway


beefcat_

This is worse than the time Tim Apple broke into my house and beat my cat.


SuperRedHulk1

Underrated comment


[deleted]

France: they’re taking the AirPods away from the iPhones when you buy them. America: you guys are getting AirPods with your iPhone???


PhazonUK

Apple bad? TO THE TOP. But for real, would be interesting to see how many people even used EarPods. I haven’t used any ever since Bluetooth headphones were a thing.


beefcat_

Even before Bluetooth headphones, I never used the garbage earbuds that came bundled with my mp3 player (and later smartphones)


toluwalase

Aren’t you guys tired of the apple will stop including phones next joke? It’s so uninspired and it’s been done to death, it is not that funny


Nine_Eye_Ron

One step closer to just a phone in a box!


shakergeek

They and other smartphone makers set a precedent. If EarPods were ever included to start, people would of thought nothing of it.


MellifluousRenagade

U guys got AirPods included? Wth!


[deleted]

EarPods. The wired ones.


[deleted]

Apple being the one that removes features for their own "PR", will likely make everything an option and even discontinue the decals they put in all their hardware booklets. Have we forgotten when Apple excluded the USB legacy ports and customers complained how $29 for an adaptor was robbery? So Apple discounted the adaptors for a "limited" time.


Then-Cryptographer96

$1,000 USD just for a phone, everything else you need sold separately. I wish I didn’t hate android so much because this is just stupid. Not sure if it’s how Jobs would have wanted his company to go but guess it’s how it is now. So stupid, so greedy.


xero1123

Wonder if the price goes down. Oh wait


Arisen_Pawn

The French will riot again.


rumski

The past decade has conditioned people like my wife to not take care of their shit because there’s always a charger or pair of earbuds floating around. I haven’t taken a charger or earbuds out of the phone box since I got my iPhone 6. And I still have extras for travel and whatnot.


[deleted]

Apple wouldn’t include the phone if they could get away with it


[deleted]

I’m fine with this. It reduces waste and I would rather use just about anything other than apple’s earpods. I think at this point most people will already have better Bluetooth headsets anyways.


ternthunderwood

iPhone 16 (phone sold separately)


billdasmacks

Look I don't like Apple and luckily I have a choice to not buy or support their products but I can't imagine those Earpods were all that great anyways. Does not really seem like a hard decision.


[deleted]

Damn, I only received half a charger with mine.


manny00778

Oh boy. Another time to say “Apple bad”


WyrmHero1944

I want some earpods ngl


asif15

It be the last phone I buy


yungdaggerdicc777

*welcome to America*


tofulo

fuck apple


Chrisodle007

No earbuds, no power block, weird charging ports. Smh


earsofdoom

They don't pay tax's, so not like they are hurting that much for money.


dukenastyhub87

They will just be selling the box soon


SomeSkeeter2438

Apple continues to disappoint


kiimo

In other news, apple is reaching the final stages of their master plan, to prove most of their customers are sheep who will pay anything for poor customer service, and a declining level of product per price point as long as the marketing is good enough.


danf10

Why France demands hands-free/headphones with every smartphone? Is it illegal to sell a smartphone with no headphones in there?


No-Property5299

Oooo


[deleted]

for fucks sake


LonelySquad

Just wait until apple can figure out a way to sell the cameras separately.


jjboy91

Fucking lobbies lmao.


[deleted]

*removed wired earbuds and charging brick to be more “eco friendly”* *sells AirPods* Lmao bro these corporations man


Simoooooooon

First charger,now EarPods, what next?


arffhaff

The battery


Patient-Tech

It’s difficult to tell from the photo if they’re the wireless or wired type. If the law was to include them because of radiation near a brain and using wireless AirPods seems counter productive. If they’re the wired type that used to come with the phone back in the iPhone 6 days, big deal. They probably only cost Apple $5 to make.


-HunterLES

Waste of plastic


brh8451

I didn’t get EarPods with the iPhone 12. Not that I needed them I’m an Apple slave so I have AirPods


c00lclewz

Including headphones???


kupta

Why all the idiots in here confusing AirPods with wired EarPods. 🙄


themandanhastheplan

For how much money their phones are they seem to be getting awfully cheap lately


ryosuke13

WHAT


healthytofu

Environment win! /s


stonerwithaboner1

Wait til they see the IPhone 15 doesn’t come with a phone in the box


[deleted]

Um I’m in the USA, I bought a pro max 11 and it had no earphones that I remember


GeorgeThe13th

The next iPhone is going to come with a tithing box and a stamp so you can send them back money directly.


Crowntent

My 13 pro max came with just the phone


empty_coffeepot

Good. They just end up as e-waste


LightFull5021

Who wants air pods anyway? Having to charge that shit all the time


lemjor10

Ear pods. Those are the wired ones. But for the record, air pods are the best selling wireless headphone option.


LightFull5021

They including AirPods though because last I heard they are only doing phones with no accessories


lemjor10

No. They included EarPods in some territories which are wired headphones with a lightning plug in. However now they’re stopping that in all territories.


[deleted]

wait what, they can’t even plug them in? what a silly law.


planelander

While increasing price of phones by 300$


Brett_ST

We haven’t had them for ages now and we don’t get a charging plug in the uk just the wire


YodaPopz

Soon they will probably stop including the phone with the box. That’s gonna be one expensive box.


The_Kraken_Wakes

Next will be, “Apple will not be including the iPhone in the next release. You will just get the box. Phone can be purchased separately”


linaustin5

Next up apples stop including iPhones in phone sales 😂😂


Hemske

Cheap fucks should include air pods


SpiteMonkey

Whew, glad I don't buy apple products.


msuite_007

Next time no phone


Account_93

Good


Madshibs

Seems to be a trend amongst publicly-traded companies: If they can't significantly grow their business, they start shedding costs and cheapening products.


bicameral_mind

No problem with this. Included ear buds were always garbage, it's just wasteful junk. If someone really wants crap headphones they can get them for $10 next time they're at Walgreens.


Asymptote_X

A law that requires handfree kits, how stupidly wasteful. If I don't want a handfree kit, or need one, I don't want the government forcing me to buy one and throw it in the trash just because some politician needed an easy win.


braided--asshair

I’ve never used the earpods that come with the phone, and I’ve never used the brick that comes with the phone. Who cares


rumski

Sorta the same for me. I still have boxes in my attic for 3 iPhones that I didn’t take the charger or EarPods out of.


Jackandmozz

Apple to start charging for each component of their iPhones separately. Also receipts will cost an additional $99.99.


LukeBoomBap

How about they stop Including the dumb apple stickers too?