Skip to main content

Xiaomi mocked Apple for ditching phone charger, but guess what …

Xiaomi had a good chuckle at Apple’s expense recently when the tech giant announced that for the first time it’d be releasing an iPhone without including a wall charger in the box as part of efforts to be kinder to the environment.

Seeing Apple’s decision as an opportunity to mock its rival while highlighting the arrival of its latest handset, Xiaomi posted a tweet soon after the iPhone 12’s launch in October 2020, saying, “Don’t worry, we didn’t leave anything out of the box with the Mi 10T Pro,” accompanied by an unboxing video that showed nothing but the wall charger.

Recommended Videos

The tweet (below) started to look a little ill-judged this weekend after The Verge spotted confirmation from Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun that the Chinese company’s new Mi 11 smartphone will also launch without a wall charger.

https://twitter.com/Xiaomi/status/1316299756260352006?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1316299756260352006%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2020%2F12%2F26%2F22200610%2Fxiaomi-ceo-phone-no-charger-mocking-apple-iphone

Like Apple, Jun, who made the announcement on popular Chinese social media platform Weibo, said that environmental concerns prompted the decision, though critics have of course been quick to point out that doing away with these extras reduces production costs and may nudge customers into buying Apple or Xiaomi chargers later on. In Apple’s case, the removal of the charger is more troublesome as the included Lightning-to-USB-C charging cable doesn’t fit with the wall charger that most iPhone owners already own from previous purchases.

Samsung also piled in on Apple when it released the iPhone 12, making fun of it in a Facebook post for failing to include a charger. But the Korean company recently removed the post mocking its U.S. rival, fueling rumors that Samsung has also decided to exclude the charger with the imminent launch of its Galaxy S21 series.

“Your Galaxy does give you what you are looking for,” Samsung wrote in the now-deleted post. “From the most basic as a charger, to the best camera, battery, performance, memory and even 120Hz screen on a smartphone.”

While the trend now appears to be toward ditching the wall charger for new phones, one country wasn’t at all happy with Apple’s new approach, insisting that the company include a charger with every iPhone 12 or else face a fine.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Adobe made the best iPhone camera app you haven’t tried yet, and it’s free
Indigo camera core controls.

A year ago, a rather interesting camera tool came out from the house of Lux, makers of the fantastic Kino and Halide apps. The tool is called Process Zero, which essentially ripped the images of Apple’s computational adjustments and delivered a pristine photo. 

I even compared the current-gen iPhone with the iPhone 6s and realized the ills of computational photography. What I noticed repeatedly was that algorithmic processing makes the photos look sharper and more colorful, but they aren’t always accurate. And in doing so, they lose their natural charm. 

Read more
This one iPadOS 26 feature has me excited for the iPhone Fold
Semi-open state of a foldable iPhone concept

Samsung is set to launch the seventh generation of its Galaxy Z Fold book-style folding phone this Summer, but its biggest rival is yet to show its folding phone hand. Apple has long been expected to unveil an iPhone Fold, and the latest rumors suggest that it will launch next year.

I’ve used almost every folding phone released globally, with some exceptions for extremely obscure ones. While I've always been curious what an iPhone Fold would look like, I was fairly certain that Apple shouldn't build it, as I wasn’t sure they could deliver on one necessary feature.

Read more
Will my iPhone get iOS 26? Here’s every supported model
We've got the full list of iOS 26 supported devices - find out if you're getting the new iPhone update
iOS 26 features on a series of iPhone screens

Apple announced iOS 26 at WWDC 2025, and the new iPhone update comes with a fresh new 'Liquid Glass' look and plenty of features - and there are loads of iOS 26 supported devices, which is great news.

And no, you haven't missed a volley of updates since iOS 18 in 2024. Apple has skipped a bunch of numbers, so instead of giving us iOS 19 in 2025, we got iOS 26 alongside iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26 and tvOS 26. In short, Apple's brought its operating system numbering into line. Nice.

Read more