iPhone 12 won't include charger or earbuds — here's more proof

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A new render and a report from Asia offer more proof that the iPhone 12 won't include some familiar accessories

iPhone 12 Pro navy blue
(Image credit: Svetapple)

When the iPhone 12 arrives this fall, Apple's new phone could be missing a few items in its box. And a new render provides more evidence that this year's iPhone is going to arrive without a few accessories in tow.

Previous rumors have suggested that Apple won't include EarPods or a charger with any of the four new iPhone 12 models. A render from Ran Avni of ConceptsiPhone that appeared on MacRumors shows just how that might work.

Rather than showing off the phone like other iPhone 12 renders, Avni's version focuses on the insert that comes inside the phone's box. There's a circular cutout for the Lightning-to-Thunderbolt cable, a shallow area  where iPhone documentation could fit and a depression ringing the inset that can hold the phone — but not much room for anything else. Certainly a charging brick and earbuds couldn't fit inside that container.

iPhone 12 concept

(Image credit: Ran Avni/ConceptsiPhone)

This render isn't just some flight of fancy, either. A ConeptsiPhone tweet claims it's "100% real."

If you want something more than a render to confirm the news that Apple is leaving these accessories out of the iPhone 12 box, Nikkei Asian Review confirms as much in a report on the all-OLED lineup of phones Apple is preparing for the fall.

In that story, sources tell Nikkei that Apple won't include a charger or wired earphones with its new phones. "To lower the cost a bit is one reason, but not necessarily the most important one," a source tells the news site. "The reason why Apple does not include those two accessories is also because a lot of existing iPhone users already have many of them over the past few years."

Why ship the iPhone 12 without a charger?

We've seen previous reports that Apple would pass on including both EarPods and a charger with the iPhone 12. The EarPods rumor started circulating back in May and comes from noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Reports that the charger would join the earbuds on the chopping block cropped up at the end of June.

Analysts and Apple watchers say that leaving out the EarPods and the charging block would allow Apple to reduce the size of the iPhone 12 packaging while also saving some money on producing and shipping the new phones.

Of course, the move would also push people to buy accessories for their new iPhone — in particular, it could spur sales of Apple's AirPods and AirPods Pro as the company looks to diversify its revenue stream. And Apple is also betting that many iPhone 12 shoppers will already have headphones and charging accessories already.

Philip Michaels
Philip Michaels

Philip Michaels is a Managing Editor at Tom's Guide. He's been covering personal technology since 1999 and was in the building when Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone for the first time. He's been evaluating smartphones since that first iPhone debuted in 2007, and he's been following phone carriers and smartphone plans since 2015. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics, old movies and proper butchery techniques. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.