From the Apple public account
On April 22 this year, the International Earth Day, Apple pushed a graphic on the WeChat public account, introducing Apple's investment and achievements in environmental protection over the years. Regarding Apple's no longer carrying a charger with the phone from the iPhone 12 series, Apple said: "No longer come with a charger, this change is really bold." According to estimates, we have saved 550,000 tons of copper, tin and zinc ore. It is worthwhile to reduce the exploitation of the earth's resources. "For a time, it became a hot search and was ridiculed by people.
However, the Titanium Media App observed that with Apple's position in the technology industry, almost all aspects of its products and publicity have been imitated by friends in the Android mobile phone camp. But in the matter of not sending chargers, mainstream Android manufacturers have almost no choice to follow or emulate, which naturally has its reasons behind it.
The current situation is mainly due to the different charging protocols adopted by Apple and various Android mobile phone manufacturers. Apple mobile phones, tablets, and laptops mainly use the universal PD charging protocol, while the Android mobile phone manufacturers are basically "fighting their own battles" and have no unified fast charging protocol. As a result, once the Android device uses a non-original charger, it is likely that there will only be a 10W-20W "slow charging" effect, which will greatly affect the user experience.
Transferred from the charging head net
The USB-PD protocol used by the iPhone is a fast charging protocol proposed by the USB-IF organization, the full name is USB Power Delivery, and the current theory can reach up to 240W of power. Widely used in mobile phones, tablets, laptops and other devices. At present, Apple's latest iPhone 13 Pro Max has a maximum charging power of about 27W, and the latest 2021 Macbook Pro 16 inches can reach a charging power of 140W. Due to the USB-PD fast charging protocol used by Apple devices, there is still a large room for future charging power, and it is possible to reach the upper limit of USB PD3.1 of 240W.
At present, the mainstream 20W power PD charger is priced at around 30 yuan on the e-commerce platform
At the same time, because the USB-PD protocol itself is a universal protocol, there are a large number of third-party chargers available for Apple devices to choose from in the market, the price is cheaper than Apple's original equipment, and can achieve the same fast charging effect as the original factory, the current mainstream 20W power PD charger is priced at around 30 yuan on the e-commerce platform.
On the Android camp side, each family has its own charging standards. In the green factory camp, OPPO is VOOC flash charge, OnePlus is WARP flash charge, and realme is DART flash charge. Blue Factory Camp, Vivo and iQOO use FlashCharge flash charging specifications. Huawei and Honor use the SCP protocol, and Xiaomi uses MI ChargeTurbo.
The Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro requires the use of an original charging head and charging cable to achieve a maximum charging power of 120W
These charging protocols are exclusive private protocols, and it is impossible to quickly charge their own mobile phones using charging heads of other brands. In addition, in addition to the requirements for the charging head, some charging protocols also require the charging cable. For example, Xiaomi Mi MIX4 and Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro need to use the original charging head and charging cable to achieve the highest 120W power.
In addition, third-party charging head manufacturers in the market cannot launch corresponding chargers for VOOC, FlashCharge, SCP, and MI ChargeTurbo because they cannot get the authorization of the manufacturer. This leads to the fact that if the Android phone manufacturer does not send a charger, the Android phone in the user's hand cannot achieve the function of fast charging, which in turn affects the user experience.
At present, almost all mainstream Android mobile phones will use fast charging as the main selling point. If the main selling point cannot be achieved, or if it needs to be "added money" to achieve it, it is obviously not possible to satisfy consumers.
At the same time, the titanium media App learned that domestic companies have more accumulation and leading advantages in fast charging technology and chips, and fast charging itself is a practical experience that consumers can actually feel. Therefore, domestic Android mobile phone manufacturers will naturally act as a technical barrier and invest in the arms race of products, rather than choosing to "lie flat", using a universal charging protocol, and abandoning the research and development of fast charging.
Therefore, in the matter of sending or not sending a charging head, it seems that the sales strategy of Apple and Android mobile phone manufacturers is different, but in fact, it is more a difference in the choice of technical routes. (This article was first published on Titanium Media App, author/Wu Honglei, editor/Zhong Yi)