There was quite a lot of discussion yesterday – and not a little confusion – when it was revealed that the new M5 14-inch MacBook Pro announced yesterday doesn’t include a power adapter in the box when bought in the UK or EU countries.
Many were claiming that this is because EU law prohibits the inclusion of a charger when selling new electronic products, but that is not actually the case …
What EU law says, and why
The European Union was concerned about the growing problem of e-waste. There were two key contributors to this, and the EU therefore responded with one new requirement to tackle each of them.
First, different companies used different charging port standards for everything from smartphones to laptops. These included:
- MicroUSB
- MiniUSB
- USB-C
- Coaxial connectors (barrel plugs and jacks)
This meant that when a consumer changed device, they might be left with a now-useless charger for the older model.
The EU’s Common Charger Directive addressed this by requiring new devices to standardize on USB-C.
Second, gadget fans would often end up with a huge number of redundant charging bricks. Many of us use our existing ones to charge more than one device, so it’s wasteful to include chargers we’re never going to use.
The EU tackled this problem by instructing manufacturers to offer consumers the choice of buying their device with or without a charger.
What does this mean for Apple?
It’s important to understand two things that the law does not say.
Top comment by Timmy
I assume that many would take a new charger if it was for free.
Still there is a big market for USB chargers (e.g. companies like Anker), so there are many people out there who will pay for additional chargers. Still many third party models have additional features like many ports/more power/smaller/ ...
First, it does not prohibit companies from supporting more than one charging standard: it simply says that it must be possible to charge the device using USB-C. This is how Apple is able to sell a MacBook Pro with both MagSafe and USB-C charging ports.
Second, it does not ban companies from supplying a charger at no additional cost. It merely says consumers must be offered the choice.
It would obviously be equally wasteful to make two versions of MacBook Pro packaging in Europe – one with a charger, the other without. For that reason, it makes absolute sense that Apple doesn’t include the charging brick in the box.
But Apple would be perfectly free to simply ask people, “Would you like a charger with that?” (shades of McDonalds …) and if they said yes, to throw it in free of charge. The fact that the company charges for those who do want one is a commercial decision by Apple, not a requirement of the law.
Highlighted accessories
- Official Apple Store on Amazon
- Apple 40W Dynamic Power Adapter for iPhone 17
- Official Apple iPhone Air cases and bumpers
- iPhone Air MagSafe Battery
- Official iPhone Air case
- Official iPhone 17 cases
- Official iPhone 17 Pro cases and Pro Max cases
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