Reports – Latest iOS Confirms no Headphones or a Charger Will be Supplied

In line with earlier reports that Apple may not ship a charger or EarPods with its upcoming iPhone 12 smartphones, the latest version of iOS seemingly confirms that headphones will no longer be supplied with the company’s smartphones.

According to a report by MacRumours, a code change in iOS 14.2 adapts the wording of a statement in the phone’s operating system that advises users to use hands-free calling.

In previous versions of the operating system, this used to state that to reduce exposure to FR frequency, users should use a hands-free option, such as the “supplied headphones”.

After the iOS 14.2 update, this now reads as follows:

To reduce exposure to RF energy, use a hands-free option, such as the built-in speakerphone, headphones, or other similar accessories.

The word “supplied” has been removed, corroborating recent leaks that have speculated the iPhone 12 will not ship with any headphones.

Cost-saving measures

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has previously claimed that Apple will no longer ship a power adaptor and its EarPods headphones with its new iPhone range.

The recently-launched iPhone SE will also lose the power adapter it is currently being shipped with later this year, Kuo said.

Kuo said the reason Apple is planning to ship its next-generation iPhones without these accessories is that it wants to offset the cost of adding 5G to its smartphones.

Kuo believes that by removing EarPods and a charging adapter from the upcoming iPhone 12 range, Apple will be able to sell its upcoming smartphones at similar prices to the current iPhone 11 range.

The analyst has also said that Apple will use a simpler battery in its upcoming iPhone models to save on costs, reducing the number of rigid-flex board layers on the batteries and shrinking the area that contains its active cell components.

A regulatory filing in July suggested that the upcoming iPhones will offer significantly lower battery capacities compared to the 2019 iPhone range’s batteries.

The cells are reportedly rated as 2,227mAh, 2,775mAh, and 2,815mAh, compared to the 3,110mAh and 3,190mAh ratings from last year’s iPhones.