Samsung Galaxy S21 family won’t have a charger or earphones in the box, certification confirms

Remember when Apple removed the 3.5mm headphone jack and a lot of Android phone makers mocked it for the decision, only to follow suit within a few years, Samsung included? Well, here we go again.

It’s already been rumored that Samsung was thinking about shipping the upcoming Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and Galaxy S21 Ultra without a charger or earphones in the box, but when we heard this back in October apparently a final decision had yet to be made.

In the meantime, the trio has been certified for sale in Brazil by Anatel, the country’s regulatory agency, and guess what? There’s an explicit notice saying the phones will not be marketed with a charger or headphones. The screengrab below shows the relevant text in Portuguese.

And just like that, once again Apple seems to have started a trend in the mobile world. Undoubtedly, like Apple, Samsung will try to sell this as something related to reducing environmental waste, but we assume it really doesn’t hurt for companies to keep a few more pennies as profit out of each phone sale going forward, money that would have otherwise been spent on such bundled accessories. Get ready for a new day and a new dawn, as they say. The mobile industry is going through yet another shakeup.

For what it’s worth, Anatel tested the S21 phones with two different chargers, both 25W, which may signify that that is the maximum supported capacity. Samsung will happily sell you one of those separately, of course, as it will the Galaxy Buds Pro true wireless earbuds, which are expected to debut alongside the S21 family at the same event in mid-January.

Source: Gsmarena