Apple iPhone 12 allegedly won't be released with charger, EarPods

Apple previously removed the headphone jack from new Iphone models. Photo / AP

Rumours are swirling that the new iPhone will be sold without a battery charger or earphones in a move sure to infuriate consumers.

The iPhone 12 is expected to be released later this year and, according to renowned leakers on social media, key features will be excluded and will need to be bought separately.

"The new iPhone will not be sold with the charger and earphones," prominent voice in the technology community @L0vetodream tweeted on Thursday.

Leading commentator Marques Brownlee told his 11.5 million followers on YouTube the drastic move would be "ridiculous even to Apple levels of ridiculous".

"We've seen them do some out there questionable stuff in the past like the headphone jack and the laptop port situation," he said.

"And even getting rid of the headphones in the box we could understand, but the charging cable and the power brick? They're like the only necessary accessories. Those are the things you have to have in the box."

Mr Brownlee said it would be comparable to "shipping a car with no wheels".

"Optically, it just looks like pure greed – removing something that's always been in the box. Classic Apple, creating a problem and then selling you the solution.

"Have we ever seen a phone ship without a charger in the box? The charger is necessary."

However, the YouTube star also admitted most consumers would already have at least one iPhone charger and the exclusion could have a remarkably positive environmental impact by reducing a significant amount of waste.

The chief executive of Chinese electronics brand Anker, Steven Yang, signalled back in 2018 the environmental destruction caused simply by including the charger with products.

"Every smartphone has a charger with it," he said, according to The Verge. "We had 1.5 billion smartphones that shipped last year. … That's only for phones.

"When we have tablets, laptops, power drills (and more), we estimate a total of four billion chargers (were shipped last year). We estimate about 300,000 tons of e-waste just from these in-box chargers."

The dramatic change to the product's offering would also cut the size of the packaging in half, assisting the sustainability of shipping and increasing efficiency, Mr Brownlee said.

"Getting rid of those accessories could cut the footprint basically in half, making it one of the smallest meaning they can fit more on every truck and on every plane.

"At that scale, that means real environmental impact."