• Apple’s iPhone 12 may not come with a power adapter or wired headphones, according to TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
  • Apple may omit these accessories to keep the cost of the iPhone 12, expected to be its first 5G-enabled smartphone, around the same price as the iPhone 11 lineup.
  • Kuo predicts Apple may not include the power adapter, but did not say whether a Lightning cable would still be included.
  • Kuo is known for his generally accurate predictions about future Apple products.
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Those planning to buy Apple’s iPhone 12 when it’s expected to launch in the fall may find that the box is missing two familiar accessories: a power adapter and Apple’s wired headphones.

That’s according to TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who wrote in a new research note that the power adapter and EarPods headphones may not come included with Apple’s next iPhone. Kuo’s research was reported by Apple blogs 9to5Mac, MacRumors, and Apple Insider on Sunday.

Apple is reportedly nixing these accessories to keep the cost of its next flagship iPhone around the same price as that of the iPhone 11 lineup. The iPhone 12 is expected to be Apple’s first smartphone to come with 5G support, and Kuo predicts that slimming down the packaging by omitting the power adapter and headphones could help offset some of additional costs resulting from the addition of 5G.

The move could also make the iPhone’s packaging more eco-friendly, particularly as sustainability has become a bigger factor in the way the company designs and ships its products.

Apple will reportedly release a new 20W charger that will be sold separately as an optional accessory, Kuo says. That charger would be larger than the 5W and 18W power adapters currently sold with Apple's iPhones.

The reports do not mention whether Kuo expects the Lightning cable to be included.

Apple did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

It's not the first time reports have suggested that Apple's next iPhone won't come with wired headphones in the box. Kuo made a similar prediction back in May, but that report didn't make any mention of Apple eliminating the power adapter too.

If Apple does decide not to include a power adapter or wired headphones with the iPhone 12, it'll likely cause some controversy. Apple's decision to remove the headphone jack on the iPhone 7 was met with pushback, as some tech journalists initially criticized the choice at the time.

There's an argument to be made for why Apple shouldn't include a power adapter and wired headphones with the next iPhone. Longtime iPhone users likely have several pairs of EarPods and iPhone charging bricks sitting in a drawer at home, so it makes sense that Apple wouldn't want to drive up the overall price of the new iPhone by including accessories that many people may already own.

But doing so would also likely further fuel criticism that Apple is nickle-and-diming customers for accessories. A Reddit thread from 2018, for example, was loaded with customer complaints about Apple's power cables and storage options.

Apple is also reportedly planning to kill the charging port entirely by developing a completely wireless iPhone that may launch in 2021, Kuo reported in a previous note from December. Slimming down the iPhone's packaging by excluding accessories that rely on the Lightning port may be an early step in that direction.

Kuo is known for his generally accurate Apple product predictions. For example, in early 2020 he correctly reported that Apple would debut a new iPad Pro this year with a 3D sensor for augmented reality. He was incorrect, however, in saying that the new iPad Pro would come with a triple camera. Apple's latest Pro tablet has two cameras and a Lidar sensor for more precisely tracking a user's surroundings for use in AR apps.

The analyst also correctly said that Apple would release a MacBook Pro and MacBook Air with Apple's new keyboard in the first half of this year.

Other than 5G connectivity, Apple's iPhone 12 is expected to come with a new design that resembles the iPad Pro's aesthetic, a Lidar sensor like the one found on the iPad Pro, and a new, smaller size option.