HTC will release a smartphone without a charger

TAIWANESE PHONE MAKER HTC will release a smartphone without a charger in the box "in the next few weeks", as part of a pilot scheme in partnership with O2.

According to the UK mobile operator, 70 percent of people who buy a new smartphone already have the relevant charger at home, which means over 100 million chargers in the UK are sitting unused.

"The 100 [million] unused chargers we estimate the UK owns have already had a huge environmental cost: the weight of 1,000 London buses worth of components, enough copper and plastic to wrap The O2 200,000 times," the network said.

O2 said that the new scheme isn't about making money, claiming that it's all about "helping the environment".

It's not yet clear whether the other 30 percent of buyers will have to fork out for a microUSB cable, or whether HTC will take pity on its customers and put one in the box.

Ronan Dunne, CEO of O2 said, "The environmental cost of multiple and redundant chargers [is] enormous and I believe that, as the mobile phone has become more prevalent, we as retailers and manufacturers have an ever-greater responsibility to be a more sustainable industry."

It's also still unclear whether HTC will be releasing a yet unannounced smartphone without a charger or one of its upcoming handsets - such as the HTC Windows Phone 8X - will be the phone to come without a charger bundled.

HTC was unavailable to provide any more details at the time of writing. µ