Apple has saved an eye-watering amount of money after removing accessories from the boxes of iPhones, according to a new report.
Once upon a time, when iPhones were still a novelty, customers were given a chunky box at the point of purchase, complete with a plug, charging cable and a set of wired EarPods.
Would that it were so simple. If you pick up a new iPhone today, you'll be greeted with much flatter, compact packaging - and you'll get a USB-C-to-lightning cable, so if you don't have the appropriate adapter or an up-to-date MacBook, you'll need to go out your way to get a plug.
This decision came ahead of the release of the iPhone 12 in 2020, in aid of helping the environment and reducing waste.
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'Customers already have over 700 million lightning headphones, and many customers have moved to a wireless experience,' Lisa Jackson, Apple’s VP of environment, policy and social initiatives, said during the earlier event.
'There are also over two billion Apple power adapters out there in the world, and that's not counting the billions of third-party adapters.
'We're removing these items from the iPhone box, which reduces carbon emissions and avoids the mining and use of precious materials.’
On the environment section of Apple's website, it notes: 'Leaving out those adapters was a bold change for Apple, and a necessary one for our planet.
'Since removing them from iPhone and Apple Watch packaging last year, we've avoided mining a significant amount of materials from the earth, and we've eliminated the emissions that come from processing and transporting them.'
That's all well and good, but as Jerry Maguire once said: show me the money.
A new report from CCS Insight has estimated Apple's savings to be around £27 per phone.
While adapters and earphones (not including AirPods, which are still a premium product) cost around £19, they're considerably cheaper to produce, and the report took this into account in calculating Apple's estimated savings.
Ben Wood, chief analyst at the firm, told MailOnline: 'Apple is the phone industry market leader in helping the environment, with removing chargers and headphones one of many things it is doing.
'But of course there is a cost saving to Apple in removing chargers and headphones when it sells iPhones.'
It's believed Apple has sold 190 million iPhones worldwide since ditching accessories.
Taking into account the cost per phone, in addition to reduced shipping costs from the smaller boxes, the tech giant is estimated to have saved £5 billion ($6.5bn), with an extra £225 million ($295m) in sales thanks to customers buying plugs and earphones.
Pretty savvy decision all in all, then.
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Topics: Apple, iPhone, Technology
Cameron Frew