Xiaomi CEO considers not bundling chargers with new phones

Would you feel cheated if the new smartphone you bought did not come with a charger in the box? Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun poised this same question to his followers on Chinese social media site Weibo. The executive, like some others before him, feels that the environment is being hurt by the many chargers that consumers hoard every time they purchase a new smartphone or electronics device.

Mr. Lei says that if a new Xiaomi handset comes without a charger, the consumer will either use an older one that has been lying around in a drawer, or purchase a new one. Xiaomi offers a Mi charger for the equivalent of $1.70 USD. But there is something that was not addressed by the Xiaomi CEO. With Quick Charge 2.0 available on some Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets, a special charger is required to take advantage of the faster  charging time offered by the feature.

Most smartphone buyers are going to want to have this charger included in the box with their smartphone purchase. For example, Motorola bundles the "Turbo Charger" with the Motorola DROID Turbo. But with the LG G4 featuring a removable battery, LG decided that it wasn't necessary to promote the Quick Charge 2.0 feature. As a result, LG did not include the special charger out of the box. That forces those purchasing LG's new flagship phone to spend some extra bucks to use a feature that comes with the device.

Based on the response that Mr. Lei received from his Weibo followers and from others, many feel that the executive is using the environment to hide behind so that Xiaomi can save the costs of including a charger with its new phones. Consumers are creatures of habit and perhaps this trial balloon floated by Mr. Lei should be quickly popped.

source: Weibo.com/LeiJun via XiaomiToday