Future smartphones may not come with charging cables – Sony opens a new trend

In 2020, users were surprised when Apple decided to remove the charger from the iPhone 12 box. Since then, most major smartphone manufacturers have followed this direction - making 'not giving away a charger' a normal thing.

 

Now, it looks like companies are preparing to go one step further: removing the USB cable from the box altogether.

The 'wireless' trend in the literal sense

According to Android Authority, some recent Reddit posts revealed that the Sony Xperia 10 VII was sold without both the charger and the cable. And this is not a packaging error, because this information is clearly stated on the product box.

The reasons given are familiar, including reducing electronic waste and shrinking the box size to save on packaging materials. However, what companies often 'forget' to mention is that removing accessories helps them save costs significantly, while the selling price of the phone remains the same.

The argument of the manufacturers is: users already have too many cables and chargers, so there is no need to add new accessories every time they buy a device. But in reality, not all cables are the same. Depending on the charging standard and configuration of each device, different cable-charger combinations can give noticeably slow or fast charging speeds.

Although Sony is no longer a 'big guy' in the smartphone segment, the fact that they dare to remove the charging cable shows that other companies like Apple, Samsung, or Xiaomi can completely do the same in the near future. If that happens, buying additional charging accessories will soon become the new norm for smartphone users.

Previously, it was rare for a smartphone to launch without a charging cable. However, Apple seems to be leading this trend by launching the AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 4 without a USB-C cable. Many experts predict that upcoming phone models like the Galaxy S26 or iPhone 18 will soon 'follow suit'.

Is this a concern? For some users, having to buy a compatible USB-C cable separately can be a nuisance, as not all of them support fast charging or high-speed data transfer. But given that many people already own USB-C cables—especially after the iPhone 15 switched to the standard—removing the cable from the box may not be such a big deal.