Oppo And OnePlus To Remove Bundled Chargers With Smartphones In India?

After Apple, Samsung and Google stopped bundling chargers in the box with their smartphones, now Oppo and OnePlus are likely to follow suit and remove bundled chargers from retail boxes in India.

After Apple, Samsung and Google stopped bundling chargers in the box with their smartphones, now Oppo and OnePlus are likely to follow suit and remove bundled chargers from retail boxes in India, suggests a new leak by a known tipster.

According to a Twitter post by leakster Mukul Sharma (@stufflistings), both OnePlus and Oppo are planning to do away with the charger. The tipster's sources have apparently confirmed the same. There has been no official communication from OnePlus or Oppo on this.

"[Exclusive] If my source is to be believed, OPPO and OnePlus will likely remove chargers from their smartphone boxes soon in India," Sharma tweeted.

While most of the Chinese smartphone OEMs have not stopped supplying bundled chargers yet, Realme, earlier this year, did not give a bundled charger in the box with the affordable Realme Narzo 50A Prime. This is a bit unusual as smartphone makers usually supply chargers in the box with budget models. Handset makers Xiaomi and Poco are still bundling chargers with their smartphone models released in the country.

Smartphone makers argue that doing away with bundled chargers is for the sake of reduced electronic waste whereas they are also trying to increase their profit margins making it mandatory for users to purchase chargers and accessories separately at an extra cost. Handset makers also did away with bundled earphones in the box a few years back. 

Meanwhile, India is set to adopt USB Type-C as a common charging port for small devices, consumer affairs secretary Rohit Kumar Singh has said. This also means Apple will not be able to sell its iPhone models in India if they do not accommodate the USB-C port. This also comes weeks after the European Union (EU) decided passed rules to introduce a common charger for small electronic devices.

There are no set timelines to implement the USB-C common charger rule in India, but according to a report by The Economic Times, an industry executive has suggested that these changes may be enforced in India after the EU law regarding the same comes into effect in Europe. However, there has been a debate over the better shelf life of Lightning Ports over Type-C ports as the latter is said to become loose with usage.