An increasing number of Android OEMs are following Apple's move to remove charging bricks from smartphone retail boxes. Samsung was the first to follow suit with its Galaxy S21 series last year, and now Realme has announced that it won't offer a charging brick with the upcoming Narzo 50A Prime.

In a recent post on the Realme community forums, the company said that it will not include a wall charger with its next Narzo smartphone -- the Narzo 50A Prime. The move is part of Realme's newfound sustainability initiative and the goal to "achieve Double Zero targets like net-zero carbon emissions by 2025."

In addition, Realme says that its decision to not ship a charging brick with the Narzo 50A Prime has given the company enough wiggle room to offer a couple of additional features on the device. The post states: "The decision to remove the charger from the box aided us in many ways. The narzo 50A Prime is a big leap in terms of chipset performance & screen revolution. It will also help us to add more upgrades to the device with the best price and offers in the same class!"

Realme Narzo 50A Prime on white background

Based on the conversation we had with Realme's CEO, Madhav Sheth, at MWC earlier this year, we suspect that Realme has picked the Narzo 50A Prime for this switch likely due to the fact that it offers the same charging capabilities as its predecessors. That's because when we asked Sheth whether Realme had plans to remove charging bricks from retail packaging, he confirmed that the company would not do so if a device featured support for a new charging solution.

Rich: You also made a comment about including chargers in the box. Obviously, there’s a charger that comes in the box with the GT 2 Pro. Is that a commitment for the future? You also announced 150W charging, so is that going to be in the box with the GT Neo 3?

Madhav: That’s also going to be in the box. I’m not saying having the charger or not having the charger is a good thing. If I was only giving you an 18W charger for the rest of my life, maybe I’d remove the charger from the box. But if I’m changing the voltage and the capacity of the solution, which is now 65W or 150W, where will the consumer go and buy this charger from? So, the point is that basically I have to make these chargers available and they should not have to go back to the old speed, which is 18W.

What is technology? Technology is all about giving them peace of mind. By removing the charger, and everyone has their own strategy so there’s no comment on what they’re doing, but they may be right because if you’re only giving one charging speed forever, it’s fine. Because the previous two generations or three generations have the same charger. It’s the same charging technology and same charging speed, so why do you need another charger? With new technologies and new charging speeds, I think I have to give the charger along with the phone.

This leads us to believe that the Narzo 50A Prime might offer 18W fast charging support, like the regular Narzo 50A. However, since Realme hasn't shared any details about the device so far, we can't be sure of this at the moment.

What do you think of Realme's decision to remove the charging brick from the Narzo 50A retail box? Do you think the company is taking a better approach than Apple and Samsung? Let us know in the comments section below.


Source: Realme