By Chris Chang, posted Jan 18, 2012 at 11:13 PM, 1,162 views,

Apple Bundles Micro-USB Adapter For Free With Purchase of iPhone 4S in China

Sales of the eagerly anticipated iPhone 4S have been suspended at Apple’s retail stores in China, but for those lucky ones who managed to purchase the phone online, they found an interesting little gizmo inside the package: a Micro USB adapter, which is currently only available in the UK Apple store and costs £8/$12. Yup, the Chinese get it for free!

Not long ago, Apple updated its UK online store with a new Micro USB adapter, which will allow you to use third-party micro USB cables to charge an iPhone 3G, 3GS, iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S. The Micro USB Adapter has been made available on several European stores, presumably following new European Union standards for smartphone chargers that Apple signed up to in 2009. The standard is meant to reduce on electronic waste, however, Apple is charging an extra £8 while most phone vendors have built in a micro USB slot on the phone body itself to comply with the EU regulations. They don’t charge extra for it.

Currently, this little dongle comes packaged with iPhone 4S in China, and we’re not sure why Apple is doing this. As far as we know, in China, there are no rules of requiring cell phone makers to move towards universal charging via Micro USB. So, does anyone knows why Apple is offering its Micro-USB adapter for free to Chinese folks with iPhone 4S while the UK folks need to pay for it?

UPDATE: Apparently, China is pushing a law that would require all phone makers to agree upon Micro USB as a universal standard.

Source: PCpop