Shrinking Boxes: The Slow Path to Smartphone Sustainability

Sony, Apple, and the need for the smartphone industry to rethink packaging

There is a fine line between perception and reality. Companies, brands, and people will often bend over backward to appear a certain way, even if the reality doesn’t align with their billing. There will always be the truth of a product and the marketing spin that encourages people to buy the product. They often work hand in hand but that is not always the case. I couldn’t help but think of this dynamic when many tech reviewers were surprised that the new Sony Xperia 1 IV came with the phone and nothing else in the box. This move by Sony has created an interesting conversation over the eco-friendly movement in smartphones and brought up the question of environmentalism vs greed when it comes to packaging a smartphone.

Sony’s Radical Decision

For years now, companies have been taking more and more accessories out of the boxes of our smartphones. It used to be common practice to ship a phone with a charger, very large manual, headphones, and even a run-of-the-mill protective case. Eventually, this turned into a charging block and cable…