Every product Apple announced on September 9 ships without a power adapter. iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max come with the phone and a 1 m USB-C cable, iPhone Duo the same, Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 with a band and a magnetic fast charger cable, AirPods 5 with the case and documentation.
Apple has not published an environmental explanation for that this year. There is no reasoning statement in the September 9 releases, on the product pages or on the tech specs pages, only the box contents themselves.
| Key fact | What Apple published |
|---|---|
| In the iPhone 18 Pro box | iPhone with iOS 27, USB-C Charge Cable (1 m) |
| In the iPhone Duo box | iPhone with iOS 27, USB-C Charge Cable (1 m) |
| In the Apple Watch box | Watch, one band, Magnetic Fast Charger to USB-C Cable (1 m) |
| In the AirPods 5 box | AirPods 5, Charging Case (USB-C), documentation |
| Power adapter | Not included with any of them |
| Apple’s stated environmental reasoning | Not published this year |
What is actually in each box
Apple’s tech specs pages list box contents plainly, and the pattern is the same across the lineup. Cables where a cable is needed, no adapter anywhere. AirPods 5 is the sparest of the group: Apple’s list names the earbuds, the charging case and documentation, with no cable of any kind.
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| Product | In the box | What you supply |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max | iPhone, 1 m USB-C cable | USB-C power adapter |
| iPhone Duo | iPhone, 1 m USB-C cable | USB-C power adapter |
| Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 | Watch, band, 1 m magnetic fast charger to USB-C cable | USB-C power adapter |
| AirPods 5 | AirPods, charging case, documentation | USB-C cable and adapter |
The reasoning Apple has not put in writing
The environmental case for leaving an adapter out is easy enough to state without Apple’s help. A box without an adapter is smaller and lighter, which means more units per pallet and per container, and a buyer who already owns a USB-C adapter does not need another one made.
What Apple did not do this year is make that case for these products. The environment lines it published cover recycled content, 100 percent fiber-based packaging and, on iPhone Duo alone, 60 percent renewable electricity in manufacturing. None of them mentions the adapter.
The charging claims that assume an adapter you may not own
The absence has a practical edge, because Apple’s own charging figures depend on hardware that is not in the box. iPhone 18 Pro reaches 50 percent in around 15 minutes with a 60W USB-C adapter, and iPhone Duo reaches 50 percent in about 20 minutes with a 60W-capable one. Both fall back to about 30 minutes on a 35W adapter with MagSafe, and MagSafe and Qi2 both stop at 25W.
Our breakdown of Apple’s battery and charging claims goes through what each figure covers. The short version is that the headline charging speed is an adapter specification as much as a phone specification.
The adapter Apple sells, and the price it has not given
Apple’s current 60W-class adapter is listed as the 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max, and its product page footnote records that it was used for iPhone Duo battery testing in July 2026. Apple has not published a price for it on any of the ten regional storefronts we checked, and none of the five September 9 newsroom releases lists a charger or adapter price.
So the counter-argument to the environmental case cannot be fully costed from Apple’s own numbers. A buyer who does not already own a suitable adapter has to buy one, that adapter is manufactured, boxed and shipped like any other product, and the price Apple charges for it is not published. The saving is real for anyone with a drawer of adapters and unmeasurable for anyone without.
What Apple has not said
- No environmental reasoning for omitting the power adapter from the 2026 lineup.
- No price for the 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max, in any region we checked.
- No packaging or shipping saving attributed to the smaller box.
- No statement of what share of buyers already own a suitable adapter.
- No cable listed in the AirPods 5 box contents.
- No adapter recommendation beyond the wattages in the charging footnotes.
AirPods 5, Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4 and iPhone 18 Pro all reach stores on Friday, September 18, with iPhone 18 Pro pre-orders opening Saturday, September 12 at 5 a.m. PT. Anyone counting on the 15-minute charging figure should have the adapter before the phone arrives.
