Besides the EarPods, a major accessory might be missing from the 5G Apple iPhone 12 box

Question: How does a leading phone manufacturer keep the price tag down on a very expensive handset? Answer: Take out some of the accessories that were once included in the box. Last month, reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International said that Apple would not be including the EarPods wired earphones in the box with the iPhone 12. Reportedly, Apple is doing this to prod iPhone buyers into purchasing one of the wireless Bluetooth AirPods models.

Apple iPhone 12 buyers might need to spend $63 to replace the missing EarPods and charging brick

But today, according to 9to5Mac, Kuo issued a new report that is disappointing and somewhat shocking if true. According to the man who knows what’s being served in the Apple cafeteria on a certain date a year in advance, Apple will not include a charger in the box with the iPhone 12. Instead, those purchasing the phone will have to buy a charging brick separately. Kuo’s report comes just days after a Twitter tipster posted images of a 20W charger that he claimed Apple would be including in the box with the upcoming iPhone 12 models. Kuo says that the 20W charger is legit but it will be sold to iPhone 12 buyers separately. The analyst also says that Apple will continue to include a charger with its iPad tablets.

The Apple iPhone 11 Pro models shipped with an 18W charger. Models from the iPhone 8 to the iPhone 11 support fast-charging but ship with a 5W charging brick. This forces owners of those devices to spend $29 for the faster 18W charger that comes for free with the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. Other phone manufacturers include faster chargers. For example, the Oppo Reno Ace uses a 65W fast-charger to go from 0% to 100% in 35 minutes. The iPhone 11 Pro models will go from 0% to 50% in approximately 30 minutes. That’s obviously not as fast as the Reno Ace, but is still a marked improvement from the 5W charging speed which will take the battery on the iPhone 11 from 0% to 20% in half an hour.

If Apple keeps the prices of its accessories the same next year, it will cost consumers $63.15 to replace the EarPods and the 18W fast-charger that the iPhone Pro models come with. Apple is expected to produce anywhere from four to six models this year including 5G versions of the 5.4-inch iPhone 12, the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Plus, the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro, and the 6.7-inch iPhone Pro Max. there also is speculation that Apple will deliver 4G-only variants of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro Max. The two 4G LTE models are rumored to carry affordable price tags of $549 and $649 respectively.

All iPhone 12 models are expected to be powered by the A14 Bionic chipset produced by TSMC using its 5nm process. That means simply that more transistors can fit inside.it. The A14 Bionic will employ 15 billion transistors compared to the 8.5 billion used by the A13 Bionic; the more transistors inside a chip, the more powerful and energy-efficient it is. The new standard models will each be equipped with 4GB of memory compared to 6GB of RAM on the Pro units. The new iPhone 12 handsets should start with 128GB of storage, twice the basic amount of storage available on the basic 2019 variants.

As for the rear camera module, there is some controversy based on a leaked CAD image. While all iPhone 12 units are expected to have Wide and Ultra-wide cameras, the Pro models will add a telephoto camera with 3x zoom. The latter models should feature the LiDAR time-of-flight depth sensor first seen on the 2020 iPad tablets. The sensor will deliver enhanced AR capabilities and improved portrait photographs. The question is whether the LiDAR sensor will also be found on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Plus. Most believe that the CAD image, made for case manufacturers, contained just enough information for those firms thus making the image incomplete.

We also expect Apple to hike battery capacities for the upcoming models. That is not only because of the 5G support but also is due to the 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate for the iPhone 12 Pro handsets. This means that those phones will refresh their displays 120 times each second. The iPhone 12 Pro Max could sport a 4400mAh battery compared to the 3969mAh capacity on the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

The next-gen iPhone models might be unveiled in September, as usual, the coronavirus outbreak might force Apple to delay the release of its new handsets.