A device advertised with accessories included is being discounted, but not in a way that shows up in its price. The bundle is a discount that hides itself, and it appears at a predictable point in a product's life.
Bundling lowers the price without moving it
A published price is visible to competitors, to price-comparison systems and to the manufacturer, and cutting it invites everyone else to follow.
Adding items to the box reduces the effective price for the shopper while the advertised figure stays intact.
Because the manufacturer's minimum advertised price rules usually apply to the product rather than the package, bundling is often the only reduction a retailer is permitted to make.
The accessories are usually already on hand
The items given away tend to be cases, cables, memory cards and adapters, all of which are high-margin and frequently overstocked.
Their cost to the retailer is a fraction of their shelf price, so a bundle that looks generous can be cheaper than a modest cut on the device itself.
It also clears two slow lines at once, moving accessory stock that would otherwise sit until it becomes obsolete alongside the device it fits.
Bundles cluster around transitions
Bundling appears most often just before a replacement product is expected, or in the weeks after a launch when the previous model needs to move.
It also appears on configurations that did not sell, such as unpopular colours or storage sizes, where the base product is fine but the specific variant is stuck.
Seen that way, a generous bundle is information about the seller's inventory position rather than about the product.
Manufacturer bundles work differently
When the bundle comes from the manufacturer rather than the retailer, the motive is usually attachment rather than clearance.
Including a subscription trial, a controller or a first-party accessory pulls the buyer into an ecosystem where later purchases are more likely.
These bundles tend to be announced with the product and available everywhere, which distinguishes them from a single retailer's clearance offer.
Valuing a bundle honestly
The included items are worth their replacement cost to the buyer, which is what they would otherwise have paid, not the price printed on the accessory's packaging.
Items that would never have been bought are worth close to nothing, however impressive the stated total sounds.
Comparing a bundle against a plain unit therefore means subtracting only the accessories that were genuinely needed, which usually leaves a smaller advantage than the offer implies.