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3 weeks ago
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Don't blame Apple this time — if you're in the European Union or the UK, your new M5 14-inch MacBook Pro or iPad Pro may cost you $70 extra because Apple isn't allowed to bundle a charger.
It's chiefly because of the European Union's law that Apple was forced to move from Lightning to USB-C charging on the iPhone. But those laws covered more than just smartphones, and the EU has also been pressing for companies to stop bundling chargers with their devices.
The idea is that so many consumers already have chargers that bundling new ones creates unacceptable volumes of e-waste. The EU enacted a law covering this back in 2003, but its latest amendment requires its 27 member states to have implemented it by October 9, 2025.
It's a different matter for the US and most of the world — including Brazil, which has previously fined Apple for not including chargers. For all of those countries, buyers of the new M5 14-inch MacBook Pro are offered a 70W power adaptor in the price.
They can alternatively choose to pay $20 more and instead get a 96W charger.
In European Union territories and the UK, there is no such option at all. Curiously, these places do get a "What's in the Box" section in the Store, while US buyers do not.
Should UK buyers want a charger, they have to pay the equivalent of $78 for the 70W version. The 96W model costs the equivalent of $105. Across the EU, the price in Euros is equivalent to $75 or $98.
For the new M5 iPad Pro, a 20W charger is included in the US and most territories. But in the UK and EU, they must buy a separate 30W charger for $50.
Chargers not needed
In each case, the chargers — whether included in the box or sold separately — are USB-C ones. They are chargers that come with USB-C ports, but no USB-C cables.
However, even in the EU, Apple's new M5 14-inch MacBook Pro and iPad Pro do include USB-C cables in the box.
So for existing users and upgraders, it's true that bundling a separate charger is a waste. But for new owners, the charger has become a separate and perhaps unexpected extra expense.
It doesn't appear that Apple has cut prices of the MacBook Pro or iPad Pro to match, either. That can't be proven, though, because at least with the UK, Apple generally does currency conversion just by swapping symbols.
So for instance, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro is 1,599, whether that's dollars or pounds. To further muddy comparisons, UK law requires prices to be listed inclusive of tax, but 1,599 pounds is $2,120 so there's no obvious discount.
