iPhones will reportedly not ship with free EarPods anymore in its movement to completely shift to a wireless future.
Apple has always been notorious in pushing for industry-shaping practices. The company practice was started by its founder Steve Jobs during the early years of Apple, and the company has since never turned its back on the company mantra.
Last 2016, Apple completely shut down the 3.5mm headphone jack to the dismay of users who have invested in expensive earphones with wires.
The headphone jack shutdown faced tons of criticisms from Apple and non-Apple users. Some other brands even made fun of the lack of the jack. Apple apparently doesn’t seem to care while it charges to a future it envisions.
No more free EarPods for iPhone 12 and onwards
Apple will reportedly completely ditch the wired earphones, which has been beloved to many users for the past decades. According to Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is ready to shift the industry yet again. He said that iPhones from the iPhone 12 onward will not ship with free EarPods anymore.
It can be recalled that Apple provided EarPods within the packaging of the iPhone 11 and its earlier predecessors. The ones that still had the 3.5mm headphone jack, shipped with a pair of pristine white EarPods.
When Apple dropped the 3.5mm headphone jack, they considerably provided EarPods that connected via the Lightning port.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC9urbiVp4M
Users never really liked the Lightning port shift. Given Apple’s track record for poor battery health over a long period of time, users eventually never get to enjoy listening via wired earphones while charging.
Music listening moving forward
Apple will be saving up on costs by ditching the EarPods that ship with the iPhones. Nevertheless, users shouldn’t expect the company to drop the price of the iPhones. At best, Apple may just keep the price point of the iPhone 12 similar or close to the iPhone 11.
As an alternative, Apple will reportedly slash the prices of the AirPods and the AirPods Pro to entice users to completely shift to a wireless world. Other companies entice customers by bundling their newest devices with proprietary named wireless earphones.
Apple may do the same with the AirPods and the new iPhones. Should they decide to do the promotion, they may expect more people to adapt to their mantra. At the end of the day, it will still be Apple that will benefit from the strategy. Since they won’t be shipping the iPhones with free EarPods, people will have to be forced to buy a pair at AU$45.
Image courtesy of Hadrian/Shutterstock