The Samsung Galaxy S30 could copy one of the iPhone 12's most controversial rumored changes by shipping without a charger. And while that sounds frustrating, there's a couple of good reasons why Samsung's considering this.
The news of Samsung's potential plan is from ETNews (via TechRadar). ETNews quotes what it describes as 'industry officials,' who state: "Samsung Electronics is discussing how to remove the charger from smartphone components with related companies."
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The reasoning is pretty simple: the majority of users have USB-C phone chargers already, so removing them from the box of every new phone means less electronic waste and a small reduction in the price of phones. This likely won't mean a large price drop, since chargers are by no means an expensive component. But we'll take any discount we can, given that flagship phones now regularly cost $1,000 and over.
This will apparently go into effect with "some models released next year." Samsung perhaps foresees that this could be a very unpopular move, so it'll be enacting this change gradually. It could target only a specific class of its phones, for example the budget Galaxy A series, where the discount could be most noticeable. On the other hand, maybe the Galaxy S30 and other premium flagships may see their boxes emptied out, given that their customers are more likely to have existing cables handy.
While many potential customers will already own USB-C chargers, the difference in manufacturers' fast charging speeds could prove to be an issue. Getting the best charging performance out of your new phone will usually require one of the company's own chargers, which would mean new customers would have to pay up for optimal charging speeds.
Apple is also rumored to exclude both the charger and its wired EarPods headphones from the iPhone 12, but this move has additional complications. Since Apple uses the proprietary Lightning connector, anyone who wants to swap from an Android phone to an iPhone would need to stump up more cash for the charger. That said, since Apple is allegedly planning on moving to wireless-only charging with the iPhone 13 and the Qi wireless standard is almost universal on 1st-and 3rd-party chargers, perhaps any difficulties with wired charging can be offset by a focus on wireless charging instead.
The Galaxy S30 (if that is indeed the name Samsung goes with), won't appear until February 2021 at the earliest. In the meantime, Samsung is likely releasing both the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Fold 2 at a Galaxy Unpacked event on August 5. As far as we know, both the stylus-equipped phablet and foldable phones come with Samsung's standard 25W chargers, so you'll be able to buy them without worrying about not having a way to power it up.
