That's an anti-consumer move guaranteed to add $20-50 to any phone purchase.

That's a good thing. It guarantees that chargers are truly exchangeable between devices and cuts down on the number of chargers produced and shipped. Let's face it: how many chargers do you need? How many are left over from devices that you replaced and still working?

I think the idea is that it only adds $20-50 to the first phone purchase. You can use that first charger for all later phones.

In the end it should work out better for you. You no longer have to buy a charger you don't need with every new phone.

i've bought two new kindles since amazon stopped shipping a USB Charger with every new kindle, and in that same time period i have not bought any new USB Chargers.

you don't need a new charger with every device.

how so?

I see it as 'batteries not included'

So long ss batteries are standardized, it's not a problem.