French Apple
In our 10-28-21 note, we indicated that, among other countries, France took umbrage at Apple’s removal of chargers and earphones from the box when purchasing an iPhone. The government of Brazil fined Apple for the change considering such devices as ‘defective’, and France cited the potential harmful effects of cell phone radiation on young children, forcing Apple to include headphones within the iPhone packaging. Apple’s theory that most users already have chargers and headphones, leading the inclusion of same to product waste harmful to the environment, is a bit dubious, especially during a period when inflation is causing many components to become more expensive, and goes to the same but more subtle issue of how many consumer staple companies have reduced product weight/package to keep price consistent. (Example: Sweet & low packets used to be 0.04 grams but are now 0.035g, a 12.5% reduction in weight).
That said, France has changed its mind toward Apple and has decided to overturn the law requiring headphone inclusion, now citing the same ‘waste’ issue that Apple’s lawyers had presented, and that the health argument is not enough to justify the additional waste, although it still requires that ‘compatible headphones are available for sale during the life of the product.’ According to Apple related sites in France the company has already sent a memo to carriers in France indicating that it will stop shipping iPhones with headphones after 1/24/21. There is still the potential legislation in the EU that all smartphones must have a C-type port to connect to a charger, which would eliminate the necessity for a separate charger for Apple smartphones, but if it were that easy to reverse the headphone issue in France, the EU mandate might never see the light of day.
That said, France has changed its mind toward Apple and has decided to overturn the law requiring headphone inclusion, now citing the same ‘waste’ issue that Apple’s lawyers had presented, and that the health argument is not enough to justify the additional waste, although it still requires that ‘compatible headphones are available for sale during the life of the product.’ According to Apple related sites in France the company has already sent a memo to carriers in France indicating that it will stop shipping iPhones with headphones after 1/24/21. There is still the potential legislation in the EU that all smartphones must have a C-type port to connect to a charger, which would eliminate the necessity for a separate charger for Apple smartphones, but if it were that easy to reverse the headphone issue in France, the EU mandate might never see the light of day.
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