- The Sony Xperia 10 VII is shipping without a USB charging cable
- This will save Sony money but its environmental impact is less clear
- It's likely other brands will start doing the same
In a move that was perhaps inevitable, a phone has now launched without a USB charging cable in the box. That phone – the Sony Xperia 10 VII – is probably not one that too many people planned to buy anyway, but it is a notable shift.
This news came to our attention thanks to Reddit poster Brick_Fish (via Android Authority), who shared an image of the charger-free box contents on Reddit, along with a photo of the box itself, which has a picture of a cable with a line through it – indicating that a charging cable isn’t included.
With Sony not putting a cable in the box with this phone, it seems likely that future Sony Xperia handsets will also ship without a cable – and having seen Sony do this, we wouldn’t be surprised if other manufacturers follow suit.
After all, for a long time now, most smartphones have shipped without a charging brick, so this move is a logical extension of that approach. On the other hand, Apple was first to drop those, 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 bundled USB cables, so with or without this move from Sony, there’s every chance Apple could start shipping iPhones without cables too.
The reasoning for this is presumably much the same as it was with charging bricks – namely that electronics have been requiring USB cables for long enough now that most buyers probably already have a whole nest of them.
An environmental – and financial – impact
As such, they arguably don’t need one to be included with new purchases, so by not making and shipping cables, Sony is potentially being more environmentally friendly as it’s reducing e-waste.
Of course, while that’s the argument, not shipping cables or charging bricks with phones also saves the manufacturers money, and that’s likely been the main factor in them removing charging bricks from boxes, and now in Sony’s decision here.
And that might be a better justification ultimately anyway, because the environmental impact of not including charging cables isn’t entirely clear cut.
While not everyone who buys this phone will need to go out and buy a cable for it, some buyers inevitably will, and that will lead to additional packaging that wouldn’t be necessary if the cable were just included in the box.
Plus, as replies to the Reddit post note, those cables that people buy separately may, in many cases, be lower-quality third-party options, which might not perform as well, making them worse for buyers, and they might not last as long, making them worse for the environment too.
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, it’s likely other brands will follow suit.
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