Remember how Apple and Samsung and others made the call to stop shipping chargers with their high-end smartphones? It looks as though budget phones, like Samsung’s Galaxy A lineup, are next on the chopping block.
Samsung Galaxy A13 and Galaxy A23 handsets won’t launch this year with the 25W charge block that was a common addition with all but Samsung’s highest-end phones. The reason for this isn’t given. The company’s product pages for the upcoming budget phones simply include a footnote. It says, “25W Super Fast Charging charger sold separately.”
Galaxy A-holes (in your budget)
12 5G bands support on Samsung Galaxy F23…
No in-box chargers for upcoming M & A series models
— Yogesh Brar (@heyitsyogesh) March 7, 2022
In other words, if you pick up a budget Samsung smartphone from 2022, you’ll pay extra for a charge block. Assuming you need one, that is. To purchase a 25W charge block in South Africa, expect to pay R500 for the travel version. For a 15W block (with a cable, fair enough), you can tack an extra R350 onto your phone budget.
Odds are that pricing for the handsets in question — and any others that are affected — won’t be reduced to compensate, though. Immediate predecessors, the A12 and A22 sell for R3,000 and R4,000 respectively. It’s not likely Samsung will drop that pricing just because the box doesn’t have a charger inside.
The company has a solid argument for those who object to the omission. You probably already have a bunch of these things at home. It’s better for the environment if they don’t include them. The fact that Samsung can make a little extra cash on the side and doesn’t have to jack new phone prices up quite so high is probably just a little-noticed side effect. Really.
And it’s not just the Galaxy A range of phones being pruned of their blocks. The Galaxy M lineup, which doesn’t launch in South Africa, is also expected to drop in-box chargers this year. There will be a brief adjustment period, and then you’ll be buying all of your Samsung chargers separately. Unless, that is, some enterprising competitor keeps its chargers free for longer than expected…