You may have seen that Apple has made the decision to stop including a charger with the new 14in MacBook Pro M5, and I think this feels like a major misstep.
Just imagine someone buys a new laptop, and imagine that excitement turning into frustration the moment they unbox it and realise they can’t even plug it in. For a company that prides itself on “it just works,” this time, it really doesn’t.
The company says it’s about the environment, and technically, it’s aligning with new EU rules, but the reality is that it cheapens what should be a premium experience.
Let’s be honest: most people don’t have a spare 70W or even a 96W USB-C charger just lying around. Unlike phones, which we tend to upgrade every couple of years, laptops stick around for much longer – three, five, even seven years isn’t unusual. That means many buyers won’t already own a compatible, high-powered USB-C brick capable of charging their new MacBook properly. Instead, they’ll rummage through drawers, find an old charger from a tablet or a different laptop, and wonder why their shiny new MacBook takes hours to top up.
That’s not a very premium experience for a product that costs north of US$1500 / £1500.
In the U.S. and most other countries, Apple still includes the 70W USB-C Power Adapter in the box. But in Europe, including the U.K, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Norway, buyers are left to fend for themselves (first reported by Mac Rumors).
Sure, Apple still gives you a USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable, but that’s not much use without the power brick to plug it into. If you want the official one from Apple, it’ll cost you another £59.
Now, Apple argues that the EU’s upcoming regulation is behind this change. Starting next year, tech companies selling devices with removable chargers must offer the option to buy them without the charger, to cut down on e-waste. That’s fair enough – nobody needs a drawer full of unused power adapters. But here’s the thing: the EU law doesn’t ban including a charger. It just says customers should have the choice.
Apple could have done exactly that – let buyers tick a box at checkout if they wanted a charger in the box. Instead, it’s gone the nuclear route – no charger for anyone.
That feels more like a cost-saving move than a planet-saving one to me.
It’s a tough pill to swallow when MacBooks are already pricier than comparable Windows laptops. Apple’s build quality and performance are brilliant, no doubt, but when you have to pay extra just to charge the thing, it starts to look less like a premium purchase and more like penny-pinching from a company worth trillions.
And while Apple says this will reduce environmental waste, the irony is that many people will just order a charger separately – complete with its own packaging and shipping footprint. That doesn’t sound like sustainability to me.
I’d love to see Apple rethink this. If the EU says consumers should have a choice, give us one. Include a free charger option at checkout. If someone already has a perfectly good 70W USB-C brick, great – they can skip it and save a few grams of packaging. But for everyone else, especially those upgrading from much older laptops, including one should be a no-brainer.
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