Now that the iPhone 12 hype has settled down, here is our in-depth look at what you actually get, or do not get, when you buy Apple's latest and greatest smartphone.

During the launch event, Apple talked about how a few of the product decisions they made were focused on environmental friendliness and 5G optimization for around 100 carriers worldwide. What they did not tell in clear terms was that they increased the price for iPhone 12 by more than $100 compared to last year's iPhone 11. They also removed everything from the iPhone 12 package that users would care about: EarPods and a charger. Here is how it impacts you, as a customer, when you place an order for a new iPhone, unless you already have a USB-C charger and compatible headphones.

iPhone 12 - Now Features No EarPods or Charger

Compared to last year's iPhone 11, iPhone 12 features an OLED display and 5G networking, but Apple is charging $129 more now for the unlocked 64GB variant. This is $129 without EarPods and a charger, and a storage bump that was reserved only for iPhone 12 Pro models. Apple also went ahead and replaced its Lighting to USB-A cable with a Lighting to USB-C cable. This means that your old iPhone's USB-A charger will not work with the new iPhone. Sure, it's all in the name of environmental friendliness - but if Apple actually cared about the environment, they would have shipped USB-C chargers for at least a year with iPhones, before not shipping any charger at all.

With this abrupt removal of headphones and charger from the package, Apple has forced customers to not only find alternatives and spend more money, it means that more chargers and headphones will be produced and shipped to fulfill the additional demand which will have a negative impact on the environment for some time. So, the 2 million metric tons of carbon emissions that Apple wants to reduce annually, will not really matter for some time.

Actual Price

In terms of costs, if you want to get the same experience that you got last year when buying an iPhone 11, you will be spending $167 in total. Even though Apple removed accessories from the package, they did not reduce the cost. Here's how:

iPhone 12: $729EarPods: $1920W charger: $19

Another important thing to note here is that if you are not in the United States, your iPhone 12 will not ship with mmWave 5G, but you will still pay the same amount. mmWave is only supported by a limited number of carriers in the United States so it makes sense to not have the required hardware for iPhone 12 models sold outside the country. However, when you look at the cheaper Pixel 5 variant that Google is selling outside the United States because it costs less without mmWave, you have to wonder why Apple did not do the same.

This also means that the iPhone 12 you buy outside of the United States is not future-proof. Whenever you get faster mmWave 5G support in your country, your iPhone 12 would have no support for it, even though you had paid the same price that customers in the US did for mmWave support.

So to sum it up, most customers will end up paying more to get less with the iPhone 12 lineup, and the standard iPhone 12 is not a good deal anymore, unlike the really good deal that iPhone 11 was.