The Samsung Galaxy S21 is here. In addition to announcing that the new S21 series will be sold without a charger, Samsung also confirmed that more phones will do so in the future.

We may not like it, but not bundling a charger puts Samsung in a good position.

When Apple removed the charging block from the iPhone 12 box in October 2020, some of us wondered who would follow suit. Samsung's decision to imitate, or at least go in the same direction as Apple, is not surprising; as Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight, puts it: "Where Apple goes, others tend to follow." This is despite an amusing post on Samsung's official Carribean Facebook page last year that made fun of Apple for no longer offering the charger. (Naturally, the post is no longer live.)

There are several major reasons why Apple and Samsung stopped supplying bundled chargers. First, as Wood points out, this has direct economic benefits for the handset manufacturers. In addition to removing the cost of accessories from the equation, removing the charger "allows for more compact packaging and reduces costs for shipping, warehousing, etc."

But Avi Greengart, founder and principal analyst at Techspotential, says the decision is not purely about saving a few dollars in manufacturing and logistics: "Electronic waste is a real problem, and this is not just an opportunistic This is not just an opportunistic way for manufacturers to cut costs." This is the main thrust of both Samsung's and Apple's explanations, and while it is good that these two giant companies are throwing their environmental hats in the ring, it leaves users somewhat in the lurch.

That is why Wood believes that if both Samsung and Apple are serious about environmental protection, they should do more. He says, "Both Apple and Samsung could have done more to protect the environment (by) including USB-to-USB-C conversion adapters, offering discount options for those who need chargers, or offering an environmentally friendly trade-in program to trade in older or less efficient chargers for new ones with fast-charging capabilities. It is unfortunate that they did not back up (their decision not to offer them)," Wood said. Let's hope Apple and Samsung, or rival manufacturers trying to take advantage, start doing this in the near future.

So where are we headed? Taking away bundled chargers may anger some smartphone buyers who are used to getting a charger along with their new phone, but this is unlikely to actually affect sales, says Greengart. 'Most consumers already have multiple chargers, and Samsung standardized on USB-C a few years ago, so compatibility is not an issue.'

Therefore, if you were hoping for a U-turn on the charger issue as a motivation to take a big hit on Samsung phone sales, you might want to reconsider.

Looking to the future, there may be another factor driving the disappearance of chargers. For example, Apple's iPhone 13 is rumored to be the company's first portless phone, capable of wireless charging only. In that case, users would have to rely on a wireless charger, whether a MagSafe charger or a third-party one, which would be much more expensive than a standard charging head to toss in the phone booth for free.

We still don't know anything about the Galaxy S22, but it may only be a few months until leaks and rumors start filling in the blanks about its charging specifications, and given Samsung's focus on wireless charging and reverse wireless charging for the past few launches seems not unreasonable to assume that the handset maker will do the same.

With Samsung joining Apple, it seems likely that most other smartphone manufacturers in the world will no longer include chargers with their new models. However, if this is to become a trend, these companies need to make it easy for users to discard their old chargers.