During today’s “Time Flies” event, Apple explained why it has decided to stop including a power adapter in the box with the latest Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple Watch SE, portraying the move as a big step toward meeting the company’s environmental goals. But it turns out this change doesn’t apply to every new Apple Watch; the most expensive models will still come with a 5-watt charger.
Both the titanium Apple Watch Edition and high-fashion Apple Watch Hermès will include a power adapter in the box, according to Apple’s website. (Credit to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman for spotting this.)
Apple sells far fewer Edition and Hermès Watches than it does the more mainstream models, so it follows that the reduced volume makes for less waste. But isn’t it also relatively safe to assume that anyone spending $800 on an Apple Watch — that’s the starting price for the titanium version — likely already has a USB power adapter (or many of them) around somewhere? Why not go all-in and remove the bundled adapter from all of them? Or if you’re going to include one, it’d probably be better to make it a higher-wattage adapter that will be useful for a range of modern devices. The Verge has reached out to Apple for comment.
The Apple Watch Series 6 (both aluminum and stainless steel models) and SE omit the bundled charger, which has been seen as a precursor to Apple making the same change with the iPhone 12 lineup. All of Apple’s new smartwatches will begin shipping on Friday.
