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Cellphones Hardware

Your Next Phone Might Come Without a USB Cable (androidauthority.com) 107

Posted by BeauHD from the only-a-matter-of-time dept.
Android Authority notes the start of a new trend we're seeing in some new smartphones: devices shipping without USB cables. It follows the earlier industry shift away from bundled charging bricks, which Apple started back in 2020 with the launch of the iPhone 12. While manufacturers cite environmental benefits, "the main driver behind these decisions for companies like Apple and Sony is, of course, profit," writes Android Authority's Taylor Kerns. From the report: Now, it looks like we may be in for a similar shift with bundled USB cables. As shared on the Linus Tech Tips subreddit, user Brick_Fish's recently purchased Sony Xperia 10 VII came without a charger or a charging cable. In a photo included with the post, you can see iconography on the back of the phone's box that spells out these omissions. Sony's not really a major player in the smartphone space these days, but this seems like the type of trend we should expect to see gain traction over the next couple of years. [...]

Apple actually beat Sony to the punch here, in a way. The company's latest earbuds, the AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 3, both ditched bundled USB cables, as well. Still, Sony's the first manufacturer I've heard of to omit charging cables with its smartphones.
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Your Next Phone Might Come Without a USB Cable

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  • Fine by me (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 ) on Tuesday October 07, 2025 @08:33PM (#65711066)
    I probably have 200+ USB cables and another one is a nuisance and not a feature.

    • I also bought nice charging bricks. I don't need any more.

      • Yes, the summary is framing this as some type of "greed".

        "...the main driver behind these decisions for companies like Apple and Sony is, of course, profit,"

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by taustin ( 171655 )

          I'm sure it is greed. But it's the right kind of greed: "Let's not spend money including something that nobody wants anyway." The PR benefits of eco-posturing are just a side benefit.

          • Re:Fine by me (Score:4, Insightful)

            by Anne Thwacks ( 531696 ) on Wednesday October 08, 2025 @12:24AM (#65711272)
            One of the biggest advantages is that it drives support for standards:

            If you sell a phone wihtout a USB cable. or supply USB cables without knowing which brand it will be used with,

            You bloody well better comply with standards!

            • Rather than another USB C cable, I'd rather phone companies bundle a small USB C to C power only adapter. Small and bright red so I can take it with me when traveling. I would love to know that the adapter prevents any data transfer so I can confidently charge my phone at any hotel, airport, bar, plane, restaurant, bus, mall, or meeting room without worrying about inadvertent data loss.

              Yeah, I'd trade another unneeded, always-too-short cable for a data blocker.

              • Why red?

                • Easy to see, obvious when it is inline with the charging cord, harder to lose in a bag of accessories, signifies it is stopping something. I guess I was just thinking of something that would stand out against the constant black, white, and pastel cables I seem to collect.

                • Because it's infuriating digging through a drawer that has multiple USB cables to try to remember which are power only, thus safe to use in public USB chargers.

                  • I don't understand why one would need to use a "public" usb charger.

                    I mean......am I the only one with a portable power bank?

                    • You know there are people who travel for - extended - periods of time, right?

                      And having a power-only cord that you can plug into any airplane/airport/train, etc USB for a charge is absolutely easier than managing a few "power banks" and keeping them charged.

              • Does charge-only limit you to 5V/0.5A? Unless it's PD (communicating over the voltage lines), you have to hope the charger recognizes the cable's identifying resistor (or whatever) across the data lines.

            • Re: (Score:3)

              by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              The ones that come with devices are often crap anyway. For example the USB cables supplied with Pixel phones, at least up to a few years ago when I last bought one, are USB 2.0 data rate only. If you plug a USB 3 cable in you get much faster transfers, like 10x faster.

              I have a load of crap cables and a few good ones I use. Not all the good ones are super fast, some are just very flexible or the right length.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

                Yeah, that's the big point. The supplied stuff is crap.

                Brazil forced Apple to bundle a charger with the iPhone. All Apple did was bundle the slow charger they used to ship with it. I think Apple was forced to keep those "in stock" solely for that reason even though no one really used it anymore.

                LIkewise, USB-C cables have similar issues - without an e-marker chip, it's only a 3A cable. You need an e-marker for 5A (5A is the maximum you can draw anyways - the higher power cables use higher voltages). So if t

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by allo ( 1728082 )

          If they have an incentive that's good. The other incentive would be to compete over "we still include a cable" selling cables people don't need because they have the cable of their three previous phones.

      • I also bought nice charging bricks. I don't need any more.

        Some time ago I realized I had a power strip at my desk that had half the outlets occupied by USB-A power bricks and a shortage of outlets to plug in 120VAC devices. I found a style of power strip that had 4 USB-A power outlets and 6 120 VAC outlets. After that I had power bricks out my ears.

        I gave a handful of USB power bricks to Mom, and also a handful of 1 meter long USB-A to Lightning cables for her iPad and iPhone. Now she's not swapping power cables and power bricks to charge up her little portable

      • Which is all well and good, but when I bought a new phone in 2020 they changed from USB to USB-C and didn't include a charging brick. All of my old Apple bricks were now useless for my Apple phone, and they didn't give me one that would work. I didn't want to have to buy a new one, but had no choice.

        The problem was changing the cable at the same time they stopped including bricks. That was a dick move. This is also a dick move, those cables do wear out. Also, they've changed to USB-C on both ends no

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by leonbev ( 111395 )

      Oh yeah, I have plenty of leftover USB-A to Micro USB or USB-A to Lightning cables from my old devices.

      What I'm short on is new USB-A to USB-C and USB-C to USB-C cables. Basically all of my new devices use those, and the cheap ones that came with my devices are already wearing out.

      • I find plenty A to C and C to C cables at the supermarkets these days. They also have started showing up with things which take rechargeable batteries and just assume you have someplace to plug in a type C, which these days is fairly reasonable. For most phones it's perfectly safe to use a $4 cable, they are only drawing a few tens of watts anyway.

        • Why should I have to spend any extra money? My phone should come with everything I need to charge it, because it needs to be charged in order to work.

          • Why should I have to spend any extra money?

            You're spending the money whether they "give" you the cable or not, because that cost is priced into the product.

            • Yes! But now you're paying for it and not getting one. Unless I missed something and prices went down slightly?

              But don't discount the psychological side of it. Say you pay $500 for a phone, and at the counter they tell you you'll need to buy a $5 cable if you want to use it for more than a day. You'll probably be a bit annoyed. I may reply with a finger and walk out. If I walk up to the counter and pay $505 for a phone with a cord in the box, I'm leaving happy(-ish, I hate spending money).

              Given t

              • Yes! But now you're paying for it and not getting one. Unless I missed something and prices went down slightly?

                You seem to have missed costs going up considerably.

                • Exactly. Where's my cable and AC adapter?

                  • Exactly. Where's my cable and AC adapter?

                    They were cost reduced out of the package. Costs went up, in order to avoid raising prices even more, they cut costs elsewhere.

                    Do you really want their shitty cable and AC adapter? They're both crap.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by btroy ( 4122663 )

            Why should I have to spend any extra money? My phone should come with everything I need to charge it, because it needs to be charged in order to work.

            Exactly!!! The manufacturer should provide it. What's not to say I might use a defective charger. Will they honor the warranty?

            • Wow. That is a very interesting point. Will they void the warranty for that? They may have been able to avoid some liability by including chargers, and if they don't include them that shield goes away.

    • Yeah, no kidding. I have a ton of USB-C cables.

      In fact, I recently took delivery of 22 USB-C cables of various length, ranging from 1.5' to 10', all rated for 240W.

      That's in addition to the plethora of USB-C cables I already had.

      I don't need new devices to come with their own cables. I have a metric shit ton of them already.

      On that note, I had a shit ton of charging blocks too, of various capabilities. I don't need any more of those either.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        In fact, I recently took delivery of 22 USB-C cables of various length, ranging from 1.5' to 10', all rated for 240W.

        BREAKING: Local resident who received 22 cables now has too many cables. Here's Tom with more exciting information, such as the weather forecast.

        • I had too many cables even before receiving the 22 new cables.

          Funny thing about this thread...it got me thinking that I didn't see the 1.5' cables I ordered. So I just went and looked at all my new shit. Sure enough, they were not there! Amazon sent me an extra two sets of 3.3' cables instead 1.5' cables! I just finished resolving it with them, they're sending me six 1.5' cables. So, that 22 is going up to 28.

          I'm glad this thread was here, otherwise I may not have noticed until maybe later this week some ti

      • I do. Want to ship those to me? I don't know how many things you buy that you have all these extra cables, but I don't throw money around like that. It feels like I'm being punished for not wasting money on cheap USB crap if the things I do buy stop coming with the cables needed to make them work.

        • Cables are very cheap man. Even if you buy 50 of them, you're not throwing much money around.

          If you lived near me, I would load you up with a shit ton of cables and cords and enclosures of varying descriptions. No charge, other than helping me sort through all that shit. I need to seriously declutter. The only thing that stops me is the effort to do so.

          • They are cheap, so why not include them? Why should I buy 50 and join the ranks of people complaining about having too many?

            What irks me is the "well, I have too many, so nobody else needs one" attitude that seems to dominate here. And it isn't like I don't have too many of some things, but I don't think that has ever led me to want them to go away or to tell someone else to spend money. I have a surplus of appliance power cords, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't raise holy hell if I got a monitor/PC/a

            • Yes, I do think that a charging cable should be included with any phone. My new phone I bought a month or 2 ago still had one. Honor is the brand, don't remember which model, it just needed to be cheap.

              Yet I'm still using the charging cable I got with my previous phone, which is now 7 years old. Dropped that phone by accident quite few times, but was never a problem. Until 6 months ago, then it fell, not even that high and now its screen is cracked in 3 places. And that is the only reason I went out to get

              • Wow, now I've encountered TWO people who had a windows phone!

                You said many interesting things, but that's the one that's going to stick with me. The one I handled seemed pretty decent, but it wasn't mine so I can't speak to much about it.

    • I probably have 200+ USB cables and another one is a nuisance and not a feature.

      I'd love to see a real comparison against all those cables and [latest_model], since the counter-argument from Greed will be to insist you need Cable-NG in order to really gain every benefit they're selling about "fast" charging.

      Is the latest $49.99 gold-plated oxygen-starved platinum-lined (with cats) cable really necessary, or is all our other outdated dogshit just fine?

    • Particularly since you never know if you have a charging-only cable or a data-transfer capable cable.
    • I don't. I don't know why you have so many, but I have almost as many cables as I have devices that need them. I don't buy a lot of junk or a lot of phones. Not having an included cable (and charging brick) is not just a nuisance, it's an added cost.

      Why are you complaining? Stop wasting money on crap instead.

    • Cables do degrade over time, most older cables are also not rated to the Wattage of the new ones or some will be charge only. All this does is mean you need to keep buying cables seperately.
  • The last thing I need is another USB cable that's too short to do anything useful with, and too flimsy to carry real amounts of either data or power.

  • It is both (Score:4, Insightful)

    by roskakori ( 447739 ) on Tuesday October 07, 2025 @08:52PM (#65711102)

    It does have environmental benefits because there is no point in amassing 20+ USB cables over time, and companies increase their profits.

    If course, it would have been nice if they'd removed the cables and made the products cheaper.

    • Come on man, they're never going to drop prices unless it results in more profits.

      Any 'green' savings is completely coincidental and heavily marketed for conscientious consumers to make them feel like they're doing some good while they buy more shit they probably don't need.

      • How would you actually know if removing a USB dropped the price? The packaging probably cost more than the cable.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by saider ( 177166 )

          Packaging is more expensive because it has to make a place for the cable. No cable, cheaper packaging, smaller boxes, less weight. All this adds up.

      • What "savings"? Despite the $20 you get charged for a USB cable retail, you have to know they cost literally 20 to make.

        • What "savings"? Despite the $20 you get charged for a USB cable retail, you have to know they cost literally 20 to make.

          It is quite astonishing to see that this is still a thing. It appears that Best Buy figured out how to get prices to something reasonable, for the most part. There can still be a "have it right now" premium but it's not near what it used to be. I was in one of the stores for my then cell phone service provider to pay my bill or something and thought while I was there I'd pick up a spare charging cable. When I was informed they wanted $20 for it I informed the CSR that there is a Best Buy across the park

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by dgatwood ( 11270 )

            Even with a $9 cable there's likely a pretty high markup but it's at least closer to reality. With so many hands touching that cable to get it from the factory to a brick-and-mortar store there's going to be a sizable markup on it, that's the cost of having the cable now than having it 2 or 3 days later by delivery.

            Depends on where you are. I can get a pair of name-brand (e.g. Anker, Cable Matters, etc.) USB-A to USB-C charging cables (USB 2.0 speed) for as little as $6.99 delivered tomorrow morning by 8:00 (with a $25 order, or later in the day without). For reference, that's 11.5 hours from now, and $3.50 each. You're literally paying almost half a buck per hour just to get it slightly sooner. That's nuts.

            Basically, unless you're traveling and staying in a hotel, it takes a special kind of emergency to buy a $9

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Luthair ( 847766 )
      Especially for Apple since their goal is probably to sell you their Qi charging system.

      • Their? Apple devices literally work on any wireless charger. They don't control the Qi standard. They sit on the WPC board but then share that position with about 15 other companies including Google, Philips, Samsung, etc. There's some 300+ companies who are members of the Wireless Power Consortium.

        Buy literally any wireless charger.

    • Mostly the second (for profit). They don't care about the environment.
    • It sounds like you buy a lot of phones. I don't. When I do, I really need the cable and charging brick (no longer included, thanks jerks).

      How about people who are worried about electronic waste stop wasting so !#$^#$ many phones!

    • If course, it would have been nice if they'd removed the cables and made the products cheaper.

      Given the cost of the cable I'm sure they'll happily sell you your $1399 phone for $1397

  • I have long-since switch to magnetic quick-connect cables and a little magnetic dongle on each device. This way regardless of the type of end my device needs (there are still a surprising number of micro and mini USB devices around) they all take the same cable. I haven't used a "provided" cable in years.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Ocker3 ( 1232550 )
      Don't they violate the technical USB standard though? Meaning if there's a problem, the warranty likely won't hold?

      • The way to answer the question is to check if they exhibit an official USB logo on the box. I checked a few images on the internet, I could not see a logo, but that's not conclusive evidence.

    • I use these on everything as well, unless I'm updating all the music folders on my phone. They also act as dust/moisture covers for the jack.

    • And you spent a non-trivial amount of money on them. I don't want to do that. I'm perfectly happy with cheap little included cables. And I do expect them to be included. What kind of ass sells you something without the power cable?

    • I tried some of those at one point. I stopped using them because:

      1). The piece that goes in the phone was too hard to get back out.

      2). I lost that little piece on some of the cables.

      Decided "fuck this" and went back to regular cables.

      Seems like it was a good idea, but ran into some issues with respect to practicality.

  • I can bring my own apps. I don't need some low-rated garbage that I either can't install or is just sitting around trying to get updates all the time in an attempt to re-activate itself.

  • This is progress. The USB-C cable and charger is no longer new tech, and cheap versions that work well enough are readily available. Devices should start advertising the recommended wattage and let stores stock chargers sorted by that.

  • apple got an fine in Brazil for not selling iPhones with a charger so will they get even more if they cut the cable as well?

  • To bad the USB-C spec is an mess for cables and ch (Score:3)

    by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) on Tuesday October 07, 2025 @11:48PM (#65711234)

    To bad the USB-C spec is an mess for cables and changers

  • Those cents add up to millions. Plus I mean, why should phone manufacturers care about their users, none of them does.

    The practical problem, of course, will now be where subscribers will get the exact type of USB cable from, they'll need for the phone... but one can sell it to them at overinflated prices, even more profits.

    Of course there's always a risk that people get their phone, and then don't bother using it, because they can't find a proper cable, effectively lowering the revenue for the company... bu

  • I used to think about this as a problem, saw some phones (mostly Samsung) that refuse to charge or transfer data with random cables I had around home. But I found some cheap cables on Temu that do the job well.

  • USB-C (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ledow ( 319597 ) on Wednesday October 08, 2025 @02:20AM (#65711358) Homepage

    No different to "batteries not included".

    If the world has standardised on chargers - finally! - after so long, then maybe we should just embrace that.

    It was always Apple dragging their feet, and now all the Apple users have USB-C too (thanks, Europe!), there's no bad thing in everyone used a bunch of standardised chargers and having to build devices compliant with a wide range of chargers that everyone already has.

    • Everyone does not already have them. People who buy a lot of phones and assorted junk do, people who like to save money do not. I'm one of the people who got screwed when Apple stopped including adapters AND started using USB-C instead of A on those chargers at the same time. Now I'll be screwed because I don't have any USB-C (both end) cables, and won't get one with a new phone that won't work without it.

      I expect a phone to come with everything it needs to work out of the box. I'm disgusted that manu

      • How screwed are you going to be? Give it to me in terms of completely fucking insignificant costs compared to what you just paid for the device? If you can't afford a $2 cable you shouldn't have bought a $1000 phone. Likewise for the charger.

        You're not screwed, you are unprepared and incredibly minorly inconvenienced. Get a grip man.

        • Thank you! Now, tell me why including the cable represents anything other than a pathetically trivial inconvenience for someone who already has a drawerful, and why that should mean the greater inconvenience and cost for me is fine.

          Side note - I'd never spend that much on a phone. I'll think about upgrading my 5-year-old SE when they release a new one. I almost decked my step-son when he bought an $1100 phone with money I lent him. That's just idiot spending.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by ledow ( 319597 )

            It's to do with reducing wastage as much as reducing profits.

            I have a bunch of chargers that came with phones - and I don't use any of them, because all my house sockets have USB-C, I have a ton of USB-C cables, my car has multiple USB-C adaptors or sockets already, etc. etc. Another brick of copper to convert to USB-C is really unnecessary.

            Hell, my bathroom scales are USB-C, my kitchen scales are USB-C, etc. etc. etc.

            But I have a box of "old" chargers that have never been touched because they came with th

  • ... that by and large there is absolutely no lack of USB cables.

    I don't use the ones that ship anyway. I have long thick ones with fabric isolation and little LED lights on the plugs that tell me if they are live or not.

    • Disagree! I have extra old cables, but not enough of the ones in use now. So far I have almost enough, because most devices still come with cables. If they stop coming with cables, I'll have to spend more money. I don't want to do that. I don't care about having fancy cables with lights on, I'm perfectly satisfied with what comes included.
  • All my charging options are USB-A, bought when micro-USB was going to be the long-term standard, or what desktops have loads to spare of. The bundled C to C cables are useless to me.
  • I have a box of USB C cable with the little wrapper still around them. If I am upgrading phones I already have cables in place to use. Can say I would missing not getting one. Now for the few people moving from a very old micro USB phone to a USB C phone, It would be a pain but you can get cables at the local dollar store so its not hard to find.
    • Why should I have to go buy a separate cable because you buy too many phones? I don't have USB-C cables just lying around, and given how much a new phone costs, I'm not enthusiastic about having to buy any extras just to make it work.

      A device should come with everything you need to make it work. If it needs to be charged, it should come with a charger.

  • Shrinkflation. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Fly Swatter ( 30498 )
    I guess most don't care, but I still use the official cable and wall wart that comes with every phone. I also keep my phones at least four years, usually six. By then it's time for a new charger anyway, and the cable standard has probably changed again or the charger needs to supply more power.

    A new device should have a new cable. I guess if it supports wireless charging they can marketsplain there choice for greed away.

    • By then it's time for a new charger anyway

      Why is it time for a new charger? Chargers well and truly outlast their phones. My original Samsung Galaxy S charger still works. That's S, without a number after it. Why replace something that can happily last 15 years?

      And why do you use one-to-one charging? Do you only have one device, or have trypophobia that makes you scared of a power outlet without something plugged into it? There's a charger on my desk (one, singular) that currently has 4 devices plugged into it. It makes far more sense to do one th

      • 'Newer' charger provides twice the power of the 'old' charger. See the 'new' phone has a faster charge rate if connected to the 'new' more powerful charger. 15 years? You simply are new here.

        I only have a phone and a tablet (well the very old tablet isn't used anymore and I see no need to have a new one).

        my phones have gone from USB-A to mini-USB, then to micro-USB, then USB-C, as I said you are new here at only 15 years. USB-C may well go 30 years, but it very may well not. Even if we go all wireless

  • With so many USB connectors...the A/B/C connectors trying to connect iPhone, Android, Bluetooth headphones, flash drive...all because some cable or connector is "better'... https://xkcd.com/927/ [xkcd.com]

    I remember this in the late 80s and early 90s, RS-232C to serial port, then parallel port ribbon cable, etc. We've come full circle with USB, the paradox of choice.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

    So maybe no USB is the best USB???

    Then I won't have buy alot those A to B, or connector T to screw U.

    https://xkcd.com/14 [xkcd.com]

  • Most of my phone failures have at least included the charging port getting loose, requiring wiggling, rubber bands, etc to charge unattended. Of my 3 phones that unrecoverably black screened, 2 were having this problem before they died.

    I very rarely use a USB cable for data. Getting it to work is too iffy, I can mail to myself faster in most cases. Part of this may have been my Pixel 6, that shipped with one of those !@#$% charge-only cables that should be banned in the civilized world.

    I will never again bu

  • This will is well and good for the next several years. I know I am not the only one with way too many cables. In fact I mostly use charging pad/magnets. I pretty much only use it other than plug into my car, camping (plugging into external battery; though newer ones are magnetic), or the rare occasion I need to recharge my phone on with the laptop. But it will be a waiting game of new standards vs how fast the cables wear out. The pads pretty much never do. Eventually it will be a net negative for establish
  • so I can listen to records without buying a new headphone, ...
  • Company: you don't need a cable or charger, you have all the leftover ones from previous purchases.
    User: but what about new users who don't have those?
    Company: just give us more money.

  • So what? The USB cables that come with phones are generally too short, and therefore usually useless. Their only value is for substitution testing whether a useful length USB cable is defective.

  • I got a third-party cable for my phone that my phone recognizes as being able to charge it faster than the cable that came with the phone could. They should probably warn you that they don't have a cable or charger, in case you're getting a phone because you lost everything and don't have that stuff, but the first-party stuff isn't better these days.

  • ...cupboard, each grouped in types, IE, USB-C to USB-C, USB-A to USB-C, HDMI, mini HDMI, 3.5mm to 3.5mm, Lightning to USB-C and so on. Damned useful! The most of a type I have is USB-A to USB-C then microUSB that is pretty much dead.

  • But let me see... The story is already obsolete. I just got a new phone and just now checked and found no USB cable.

    I already knew the new phone (an Oppo) had no lanyard anchor nor does it come with a case with a lanyard anchor. Things are so bad the laughing guy at the store couldn't even suggest where to buy a case. Part of the reason for his excessive laughter?

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