Oppo may stop including phone charger in the box from next year

Apple was the first major smartphone manufacturer to ditch the 3.5mm audio jack from its phones, followed by the charger in the box.

Oppo is reportedly planning to ditch chargers from the box for select devices starting next year. According to Android Police quoting Billy Zhang, Oppo's President of Overseas Sales and Services, Oppo's in-house chargers will be available to purchase separately. The development was reportedly announced at the Europe-specific Oppo Reno 8 launch event earlier this week. Oppo's decision echoes the sentiments shared by Samsung and Apple. Both brands have stopped shipping chargers in the box.

At the launch event, Zhang said, "We will take the charger out of the box in the next year for several products. We have a plan". Speaking more about the development, the senior executive added, "It's not that easy for consumers to get access to [SuperVOOC chargers], so we have to keep it in the box. However, as we are expanding our business operations, we are looking to taking chargers out of the box and put them in the store so that our users are able to buy the chargers and continue using them even when they upgrade their devices".

At the moment, it remains unclear if Oppo plans something similar for the Indian market where it has a big market share. The new report does not highlight the reason behind this decision, though it likely stems from environmental reasons, which other brands have also quoted. It may allow brands to sell their super-fast chargers separately.

Currently, Oppo's one of the fewer smartphone brands to include super-fast chargers in the box. The company's SuperVOOC fast charging technology features not only on its phones but some of the OnePlus devices too. There's no word from OnePlus as of now whether it is planning something similar.

Apple was the first major smartphone manufacturer to ditch the 3.5mm audio jack from its phones, followed by the charger in the box. Many brands followed Apple's move to boost sales of their in-house audio products. Ditching the charger from the box is unfortunate, but it makes sense as it would also lead revenue boost for proprietary smartphone accessories.

India Today Tech has reached out to Oppo to know whether it is planning to ditch chargers from boxes in India. This space will be updated once we get official word from the company.