In 2020 Apple took a stand against unnecessary carbon emissions (and spending money on accessory production) and took away the charger and earbuds from the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro retail package, as well as from that of the iPhone 11, SE (2020) and XR. But France requires manufacturers to ship headphones with phones by law, so Apple had to accommodate the EarPods with its iPhones.
But because Apple’s new smaller iPhone retail box is standard across the globe, it packed it inside a bigger box that contains the EarPods. Note that Apple still doesn’t include a charger, just the earbuds.
Big box holds EarPods and new standard small iPhone box
Apple advises its customers to use existing chargers and EarPods, but also sells a new $19/€25 20W wired charger and $39/€45 wireless MagSafe charger and has deducted $10 from the price of EarPods – now $19/€19.
Source: Gsmarena