Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi, has confirmed that starting with the upcoming Mi 11, the phone will not be shipping out with a charging adapter. Additionally, it will also ship out with new packaging that is smaller and lighter in design.
On his official Weibo account, Jun said that his decision to do away with a charger for the Mi 11 is because he believes that consumers already have their own variation of a charging adapter, or are simply recycling the accessory that came packaged with the last generation of Mi devices. Jun also said that his decision was also an act for Xiaomi to become more environmentally-friendly.
Needless to say, he’s also aware of the potential backlash his company could receive for his decision but seems to be well-prepared for it. If you’ve been following the news, you’ll know that Xiaomi isn’t the first smartphone brand to declare that it is doing away with a charging adapter.
During the launch of iPhone 12, Apple told the world that it would no longer provide power adapters with every iPhone, in an effort to reduce its carbon footprint. This too, meant that the company could reduce the size of its packaging for the iPhone 12. In addition, there’s also a rumour that Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S21 will be devoid of a charger as well.
It’s an ironic turn of events for both Xiaomi and Samsung too, considering the two brands were some of the first to take a stab at Apple’s decision to get rid of power adapters.
