The iPhone hasn't been charging for the first two years, and the planet has reduced carbon emissions by 0.05 percent| focus analysis

Author | Yuan Silai

Edit | Su Jianxun

In late April, Apple, which has always been keen on environmental issues, announced its environmental results for the past two years. To sum it up in one sentence: controversy outweighs praise.

Apple said in the report that since the iPhone 12 canceled the gift of power adapters in 2020, it is estimated that 550,000 tons of copper, tin and zinc have been mined, reducing carbon emissions by 2 million tons.

"No longer including a power adapter is a bold change for Apple and a necessary move for our planet." Apple said so.

This topic appeared on the hot search on the evening of April 24. The responses are mostly divided into several categories: although Apple does not send chargers, which means that users need to buy additionally, the actual consumption will not be reduced; of course, old iPhone users with charging heads do not need to buy repeatedly, and energy savings objectively exist.

The deeper question is why Apple did not unify Android's type-C and fast charging protocols to truly reduce duplicate consumption.

Since the iPhone 12 no longer gives away charging heads, Android manufacturers have also followed suit. Not sending chargers has become the norm, manufacturers save raw materials, save money and be more environmentally friendly.

It is difficult to judge who accounts for the larger proportion of Apple's move, environmental protection and profit considerations. If calculated globally, the emissions that should have belonged to manufacturers are partially transferred to third-party charging head manufacturers, and this move to dismantle the east wall to make up for the western wall will not cause greater waste, and it is difficult to draw conclusions in the short term.

Who is emitting?

When it decided to stop giving away charging heads, Apple gave its reasons. "Nowadays, the world is not a third-party product, there are already 2 billion Apple charging heads." Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of environmental, policy and social innovation, said that in fact, there are only 700 million mobile phones that can adapt to Apple's lighting charging interface.

If you only look at the absolute number, the charging head is indeed oversupplied. Especially many old users, there is more than one Apple fast charge in their hands, for this part of the crowd, giving away does mean waste.

However, the non-gift of charging heads will in fact have limited effect on reducing E-Waste Explosion.

According to Ruediger Kuer, head of the Unuelected University's Sustainable Recycling Program, emissions from electronic products include batteries, accessories, screens, etc., and chargers produce only 0.1% of the overall emissions, compared with 0.05% if only Apple is considered.

In addition to the materials used in production, the charger also involves plastic packaging, and it is more difficult to calculate whether this part of the consumption is reduced.

There is a loophole in the data provided by Lisa Jackcon: Is 2 billion charging heads enough? After all, people will prepare chargers in different places and in different rooms, and few people use only one charging head. According to the research agency Market Watch data, the charging head market is still growing at a rate of 3.2% per year.

What's more, after the iPhone 12 supports 5G, it is adapted to the 20w fast charging head. Apple's previous gift of 5w charging head power is too low, using the Type-A interface, iPhone 12 conversion line is a Type-C interface, users must buy separately. The new charging head requires additional packaging, which increases waste, which is contrary to Apple's original intention.

Apple has set itself an aggressive carbon neutrality goal to achieve "carbon neutrality" in product production by 2030. At Apple's current pace, it is not difficult to achieve. But another possibility is that Apple has quietly transferred its carbon emissions to other third-party companies. As the tech media Verge wrote: "Apple's overall carbon emissions have not decreased, but they are scattered to different companies." ”

A more closed ecology

Canceling the free charging head, whether Apple has achieved a real sense of carbon reduction is unknown, but the production cost is indeed reduced. The British "Daily Mail" calculated that apple saved $6.5 billion in two years by no longer giving away charging heads and headphones.

However, for apples with rich gross margins, this cost saving is only the icing on the cake.

For consumers, the perception of canceling the charging head is stronger, but Apple actually has more environmental initiatives, such as Apple's use of photovoltaic power generation at its headquarters, global data centers powered by renewable energy, and the requirement that the supply chain use renewable energy, which will not produce immediate economic returns for Apple.

Apple's headquarters uses photovoltaic power generation. Image from Visual China

In fact, Apple only began to turn "green" after Cook took office, and Jobs was not enthusiastic about it before. Cook's own style and values are traceable in Apple's "carbon reduction" behavior.

Today's Apple is going deep into the more core link of "carbon reduction" in the mobile phone industry - instead of caring about plastic packaging and chargers, it is more important to reduce the consumption of mobile phone parts, which is the protagonist of carbon emissions.

In 2019, Apple has begun to use recycled rare earths in the iPhone 11; by 2021, Apple's new iPhone, iPad, AirPods, etc., welding materials are made of 100% recycled tin, and the metal wire of the iPhone13 front and rear cameras is also made of recycled gold.

These steps are more important than simply removing the charger. Renewable parts and recycling robots used by Apple eventually form a closed recycling system, and the materials on the old mobile phone are quickly disassembled by the robot and returned to the Apple production line to create a new iPhone. Mobile phone manufacturers are no longer generating more e-waste, which is the most critical step in reducing emissions.

But Apple is still shying away from more central questions.

So far, Apple has still refused to move to a more versatile Type-C interface. In recent years, although the iPad Pro has compromised and can use a Type-C charger, the iPhone with the largest shipment is still stuck to Lighting.

Apple's control over wireless charging is equally strict. In the past, iPhone wireless charging can use the universal Qi standard charger, iPhone 12's MagSafe charging system can be compatible with the Qi standard, but can not reach 15w power, to wireless fast charging or have to buy additional MagSafe charging cradle. As for third parties to adapt to MagSafe, they must meet Apple's own MFM certification.

Manufacturers who originally only needed to make one kind of charging cradle had to increase the product line for MagSafe, which is of course another waste.

In addition to reasonable doubts, we must also admit that it is far better for large companies like Apple to lead the way in environmental protection and emission reduction than to do nothing. Apple, Amazon, Google, etc. are enough to affect the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, and in the long run, it will inevitably accelerate the global carbon neutrality process.

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