Apple reportedly saves over $6 billion by not providing chargers in iPhone boxes

In 2020, Apple stopped shipping a charger in the box of its iPhones. While the company initially mentioned that the removal of chargers will benefit the environment as it would help the company reduce its carbon footprint, it also reduced the size of the iPhone's retail boxes. According to a recent report, Apple has made more than $6 billion by not providing the in-box chargers. 

According to a recent report by dailymail.co.uk, Apple could have made $6 billion by selling over 190 million iPhones across the globe. These gains come from removing chargers from the box, removing earphones from the box, and the reduced shipping costs due to the smaller box. The report mentions an Apple spokesperson saying that "one of the steps along our path (to become carbon neutral for entire supply chain) is to reduce the materials used in our products and packaging." 

What are the financial benefits of removing the in-box charger for the company?

• Not providing iPhone chargers in the box saves the money that goes into making a charger for every retail box of the iPhone. While the manufacturing cost of a power adapter is not that significant for a company that sells its products for over $1,000, multiplying the cost of one charger with millions of units of smartphones sold by the company makes it huge. 
• Secondly, by removing the charger from the box of the iPhone, Apple has reduced the size of the box thereby reducing the amount of material like paper and cardboard, which saves the company some money. Users do not get the iPhone earbuds in the retail box as well. 
• Smaller iPhone boxes are easy to ship and the company can send more boxes in some containers. This makes it easier for the company to ship a large number of iPhones to markets across the globe. It also reduces the effective transportation cost of one iPhone. 
• Lastly, users who purchase an iPhone and do not have an authentic Apple charger might end up buying a new one, which costs $19 (price for the 20W USB-C power adapter according to the official website). Now, apply the whole manufacturing cost to profit concept here and it explains the gains made by Apple.