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This is how Apple is removing the plastic wrap from iPhone 13 box

We knew that Apple has redesigned the packaging for the iPhone 13 box, eliminating the plastic wrap. What we didn’t know was how it would manage to keep the boxes securely closed during transit and handling.

A photo tweeted this morning reveals the answer …

The photo tweeted by Apple leaker DuanRui shows an adhesive paper tab from the end of the box to the bottom, with a tear-off strip to open it. In that way, there is no way for the lid to come off the box until it is opened.

It would also serve the secondary purpose of plastic wrap: indicating when a box has been opened and the contents potentially tampered with. So if you’re buying a “new boxed iPhone 13” from a secondary seller, you will still know whether it truly is completely unused.

Apple said it had made the change alongside other environmentally friendly changes.

iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max are designed to minimise their impact on the environment, including the use of 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in magnets like those used in MagSafe, 100 percent recycled tin in the solder of the main logic board and, for the first time, in the solder of the battery management unit. Both models also introduce 100 percent recycled gold on the plating of the main logic board and the wire in the front camera and rear cameras.

Redesigned packaging eliminates the outer plastic wrap, avoiding 600 metric tons of plastic and bringing Apple closer to its goal of completely removing plastic from all packaging by 2025.

The company also underlined its net zero plans.

Today, Apple is carbon neutral for global corporate operations, and by 2030, plans to have net zero climate impact across the entire business, which includes manufacturing supply chains and all product life cycles. This means that every Apple device sold, from component manufacturing, assembly, transport, customer use, charging, all the way through recycling and material recovery, will be 100 percent carbon neutral.

Not everyone feels the company is doing enough, however, with a shareholder resolution calling on Apple to support the right to repair in order to reduce electrical waste.

Green Century’s Apple resolution says that the company “risks losing its reputation as a climate leader if it does not cease its anti-repair practices” […] Green Century’s resolution demands the company reverse course to “mitigate regulatory and reputational risks and bolster the company’s ambitious climate commitments.”

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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