Judge held selling a $1,000 iPhone which then requires the purchase of a second product to function is an “abusive and illegal practice.” He noted the Lightning-to-USB-C cable that was included did not in fact plug into the far more ubiquitous USB-A charging ports, which is what would cause many people to have to purchase a new adapter.
The case is in Brazil, but US anti-trust law has a similar concept prohibiting sales arrangements that “tie” a customer to other vendor products. When Apple argued shortages and the environment, the judge was unpersuaded. He basically said Apple is going to manufacture and sell chargers separately anyway.
I wouldn’t hold out much hope, our counsel thinks Apple may just pull the cable as well and it will only accelerate the port-less phone that seems inevitable at this point
You’re right about the desire to move to portless. The problem is wireless chargers are even less ubiquitous (#FirstWorldProblems), maybe less standardized than USB, and far less “everybody has several sitting in a drawer” than adapters. The first portless phone that can only be charged by the purchase of a second device will get a US court test case quickly.
And it’s not like Apple’s cables and adapters are anything to get excited about anyway. They are overpriced generally and long term durability is mediocre at best.
A wireless charger take up more space and material than a charger + cable combo, being less power inefficient and add another device that emits EMF radiation in your house (or several if you have many devices need charging).
I see zero benefit of wireless charger over the old school cable charger, and never considered getting one even if one of my devices supports it.