For the first time ever, Apple's new iPhones will not come with a wall charger or its wired EarPod headphones.

According to Apple, this is a way for the company to "cut waste and use less materials" as part of its sustainability efforts.

Many customers using wireless earpieces

During Apple's iPhone 12 announcement, Apple executive Lisa Jackson stated that Apple customers worldwide have over 700 million Lightning headphones, and that "many customers have moved on to a wireless experience".

She also said that there are about two billion Apple power adapters globally, excluding "billions" of third-party adapters.

Hence, Apple will remove these two items from the iPhone box, in order to reduce carbon emissions and avoid the mining and use of precious materials.

Jackson said that removing these items will lead to a lighter iPhone box, allowing Apple to fit up to 70 per cent more products on a shipping pallet.

"Taken all together, the changes we have made for iPhone 12 cut over two million metric tonnes of carbon emissions annually. It's like removing 450,000 cars from the road per year," said Jackson.

She said that this is a huge step for Apple, and voiced her hope for other companies to follow Apple's footsteps, in order to make this impact "even bigger for our planet".

Apple introduced a new wireless charging method

Apple first removed the headphone jack from its iPhones in 2016.

However, even then, it continued to include its wired EarPods with its new iPhones, with a modified lightning plug.

Now, the new iPhone 12 range will only include a USB-C to Lightning cable, which can be plugged into a computer or adapter for charging.

In addition, the company also introduced a new wireless charging method, known as MagSafe.

It is a wireless charging mat for the new iPhones, which is sold separately.

According to Apple, the MagSafe charger can even be used through an iPhone case, whether it's made of silicon or leather.

Apple also introduced a MagSafe Duo Charger, which can charge both the new iPhone and the Apple Watch at the same time.

According to Apple Singapore, the new MagSafe charger will retail at S$59, while the price of the MagSafe iPhone charger is still unknown.]

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