Some phones are now shipping without a USB charging cable – and that could do more harm than good

• The Sony Xperia 10 VII is shipping without a USB charging cable
• This will save Sony money but its environmental impact is less clear
• It’s likely other brands will start doing the same

In a move that was perhaps inevitable, a phone has now launched without a USB charging cable in the box. That phone – the Sony Xperia 10 VII – is probably not one that too many people planned to buy anyway, but it is a notable shift.

This news came to our attention thanks to Reddit poster Brick_Fish (via Android Authority), who shared an image of the charger-free box contents on Reddit, along with a photo of the box itself, which has a picture of a cable with a line through it – indicating that a charging cable isn’t included.

With Sony not putting a cable in the box with this phone, it seems likely that future Sony Xperia handsets will also ship without a cable – and having seen Sony do this, we wouldn’t be surprised if other manufacturers follow suit.

After all, for a long time now, most smartphones have shipped without a charging brick, so this move is a logical extension of that approach. On the other hand, Apple was first to drop those, and Sony’s decisions probably won’t have the same impact.