French iPhone Boxes Come Packed in an Outer Box With Separate EarPods

After the news that France would be the only territory to continue to include EarPods with the iPhone, it seems that Apple is not packing the earbuds within the ‌iPhone‌'s box (via iGeneration).

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The French ‌iPhone‌ 12 and ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro does not have a different retail box to accommodate EarPods, meaning that all ‌iPhone‌ boxes are consistent worldwide. Since the new ‌iPhone‌ boxes are slimmer without a tray for EarPods or a power adapter below the ‌iPhone‌, in France the EarPods are in the bottom of a separate box that is large enough to also contain the standard ‌iPhone‌'s box. The additional box appears to be much larger than the new, slimmed-down ‌iPhone‌ boxes.

Apple is continuing to include EarPods with iPhones in France due to legal obligations. French law demands that manufacturers provide a hands-free accessory with smartphones due to concerns about the effect of electromagnetic waves on the brains.

In addition to the ‌iPhone‌ 12 and 12 Pro, the ‌iPhone‌ 11, ‌iPhone‌ XR, and ‌iPhone‌ SE no longer include EarPods outside of France.

Apple's website encourages customers to use their existing Apple power adapter and headphones or buy these accessories separately, and Apple has now lowered the price of its EarPods with a Lightning connector from $29 to $19.

Apple touted the environmental benefits of no longer including EarPods or a power adapter with iPhones, noting that the move reduces carbon emissions and avoids the mining and use of rare-earth elements. ‌‌iPhone‌ 12‌ models also ship in a thinner box as a result, with Apple claiming that it can fit 70 percent more ‌‌iPhone‌‌ boxes on a single pallet during shipping.

Tag: EarPods
Related Forum: iPhone

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Top Rated Comments

JimmyBanks6 Avatar
64 months ago
Double the packaging for the environment.
Score: 58 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MayaTlab Avatar
64 months ago

Why exactly do the French need this?
It isn't like reading the article would give you that information, is it ?
Score: 53 Votes (Like | Disagree)
benh911f Avatar
64 months ago
So much for lowering that carbon footprint!
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lwii2boo Avatar
64 months ago
I'm French and I would prefer a 20W power adapter rather than EarPods.
Law can be weird sometimes.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Remy149 Avatar
64 months ago

I wish Apple would still include these in the box - I definitely prefer the EarPods most of the time as they don’t need to be recharged every night

The rumor is that Apple is going to discontinue the lightning port on next year’s iPhone - I hope they can continue to make their other lightning accessories like their smart battery case which works great!
I’ve never used the included headphones in the box. I wonder how many people just leave them in the box like I do
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mark-Technology Avatar
64 months ago

Voodoo reason? You mean just like smoking was good for you 50 years ago?
If you could see the full electromagnetic spectrum right now, you'd be amazed at all the EMF affecting your body/brain/ears right now.

Yet we're all alive and have been for millions of years.

All those quadrillion upon sextilions of neutrinos, dark matter particles, and emf waves you can't see are going THROUGH you right now.

It is voodoo and complete ********.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)