The iPhone 12 is fantastic. It is by far the best smart phone I have ever owned. But it is not without its limitations or flaws. There is one obvious flaw that deserves mentioning.

When I first received the iPhone 12 I was a little confused. You see, I already knew that I wasn’t getting a charger with it, we had been told this by Apple and it was written on the box (although it should be said that it was in small print, in fact it was in really small print). Where the real confusion set in was after I pulled an included USB C to lighting cable from the box that I could not use with any of my previous USB A chargers or portable chargers for that matter. Immediately I thought, I can fix this, adapter. A simple adapter should have been able to fix all my problems but it wasn’t that easy. You see getting a USB C female to USB A male adapter is not a simple task, especially in store. Perhaps on the fancy internet you can get one but good luck finding one on the very same day you need to charge your iPhone! Without even knowing it I had been baited and hoodwinked.

What was the reason behind this decision? Everyone has their theories. Apple stated that the reason they left the charging device out was because of its efforts to help reduce the company’s carbon footprint. Some people are not convinced this is the case. Out of interest I recently found myself watching a video on YouTube arguing that the real reason Apple left out the charger was simply money. This is not a bad argument and I agree that having to buy a new charger is a pain when it comes to this version of the iPhone. But the problem is somewhat of an illusion. Just because Apple includes the USB C to lightening cable doesn’t mean you have to use the USB C to lightening version of the cable. The fix is quite simple. Take your old cord, that you were previously using with your previous iPhone, and use your old charger to charge your new device. It won’t charge it as fast as the new USB C chargers could (20 watt charger needed) but it will still charge your device. And there you have it. Problem fixed.

Unfortunately this doesn’t help people who have never had an iPhone though, nor does it help you use the cable provided. And that’s the real issue. Apple has mislead costumers into thinking that they need a USB C charger after they were told by Apple in the new iPhone presentation that they didn’t need a new charger at all. There’s no denying it, this is simply one of the poorest and deceptive decisions Apple has yet made. It’s a marketing trick and a behavioural trick. The user has been hoodwinked into thinking they need a new charger while at the same time they’re told they don’t need one at all.

My attitude toward this issue can be best described by Gollum who said “sneaky little hobbitses. Wicked, tricksy, false!”