The Viral Claim
A quote has been ripping through social media over the past week: “We’re bringing back chargers and wired headphones with every iPhone purchase” – attributed to John Ternus, Apple’s new CEO.
The post racked up over a million views and thousands of likes, and it landed at the perfect moment — right as Ternus stepped into the CEO conversation and just days ahead of Apple’s fall product event. For a lot of longtime iPhone users still annoyed about digging out an old charging brick, it sounded almost too good to be true.
That’s because it was.
So, Is It True? No.
The quote is fabricated. It originated from a parody account, and the “exclusive” posts spreading it across X and Threads have since been flagged with community-added context clarifying that Apple made no such statement. Apple’s own customer service channels have said they cannot confirm the claim, and more importantly, no official Apple newsroom post, press release, or event teaser has said anything about restoring in-box chargers or wired EarPods. The original poster behind one of the most-shared versions has since apologized, admitting the quote was invented.
In short: there’s no policy change, no leaked memo, and no confirmation from Apple. This is a rumor built on a fake quote, not a real announcement.
Wait, Who Is John Ternus, Though?
This part is real. Ternus, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, is widely reported, including by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, to be the leading candidate to eventually succeed Tim Cook as CEO. He’s been with Apple since 2001, has overseen hardware development across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and AirPods lines, and has taken an increasingly public role at recent keynotes, including introducing the iPhone Air.
His growing visibility is likely why the fake quote spread so easily — the timing lined up with genuine leadership-transition buzz at Apple, which made the fabricated statement feel more plausible than a random meme.
A Quick Recap: Why Did Apple Remove the Charger Anyway?
Apple dropped the included power adapter and wired EarPods starting with the iPhone 12 in 2020. The company’s official reasoning has always been environmental — it has claimed the move helped cut down on electronic waste and estimated it saved roughly 550,000 tons of copper, tin, and zinc ore by reducing box size and shipping volume. Critics at the time (and since) pointed out it also happened to cut Apple’s per-unit costs and pushed more people toward buying accessories separately, including Apple’s own.
Every iPhone since – 12 through the current lineup – has shipped with just a USB-C (or Lightning, pre-16) cable and no wall adapter or earbuds.
Bottom Line
If you were hoping your next iPhone box would suddenly include a charger and a pair of wired earbuds again, don’t get your hopes up based on this rumor. It’s fake. What is real is that Apple is in the middle of a genuine, closely watched leadership transition, with Ternus the strong favorite to eventually take the top job. Any real changes to what’s in the box would come through an official Apple event or newsroom post, not an anonymous screenshot.
We’ll update this piece if Apple ever confirms otherwise but for now, keep that old charger handy.
Have thoughts on whether Apple should bring the charger back for real? Drop them in the comments.
