Last night, Google unveiled its latest smartphone – the Pixel 5a with 5G. Like its predecessors, the chances of this device landing in South Africa in an official capacity are slim at this stage, with no word from Google on that front.

While that disappointment is something we’ve learned to come to grips with, there was another surreptitious announcement from last night that garnered our interest.

To that end Google will be taking a page of out Apple and Samsung’s environmentally conscious playbook and removing wall chargers from Pixel phones moving forward. As such, the Pixel 5a with 5G will be the last device that will feature a charger in the box.

The company confirmed the news to The Verge, citing a similar argument we have heard of late – that consumers already have a USB Type-C charger and there is therefore no need to bundle one for future phones.

As we have noted in the past, while that may indeed be true, each year smartphones boast bigger batteries and faster charging capabilities. This puts into focus the issue of wattage, and a wall charger that has the incorrect wattage could impact the performance of the device down the line.

It also means that consumers would have to fork out additional money on an accessory that use to come “free” with the phone, turning a necessary purchase into a grudge one.

While we appreciate Google, Apple and Samsung’s desire to be environmentally conscious and do away with e-waste, this strategy only invokes the ire of consumers.

It therefore looks like the only smartphone makers resisting the urge to ditch chargers, are those that hail from China.