According to Kuo, it seems that there is a chance that the iPhone 12 might not ship with EarPods included in the box. The reason for this seems to be because Apple is hoping that by not including a pair of earphones, it could prompt customers to see out alternatives like the truly wireless AirPods.
What’s interesting about this rumor is that it seems to be the opposite of a rumor we heard back in 2019, where a report from DigiTimes suggested that Apple could actually be planning to include AirPods with its iPhones. We thought that was a bit of a stretch given that by bundling AirPods, Apple would be losing out on a lot of money they could have made by selling it separately.
That being said, you should take this with a grain of salt for now, but we imagine that there are probably some out there who might not be too thrilled about this as it means additional things they will need to buy.