Rs 80,000 Penalty For Apple Because They Didn’t Ship Charger With iPhone! Judge Terms It ‘Abusive’

A Brazilian court has announced that Apple Inc is engaging in “abusive and illegal” practices. Apparently, these practices include selling new iPhones without power adapters. 

It was in 2020 that Apple decided not to ship any chargers or wired earphones with the new iPhone 12 series.

Read on to find out all the details!

Apple Slapped A Fine Of $1080 For Not Providing Chargers

A regional judge Vanderlei Caires Pinheiro from Goias state in central Brazil has also ordered the US tech giant to pay compensation of 5,000 reais ($1,080) to the customer who made the complaint. 

The judge stated that the adapter is important for the normal functioning of the iPhone and the local consumer law is being violated by the company by removing it from the boxes. This decision would be quite heavy on the pockets of the company if it is forced to compensate Brazilian consumers; this would also be applicable if the company started including accessories in products that are sold locally. 

The logic provided by Apple is that there are billions of wired earphones and chargers in the world, and they can save on carbon emissions and protect the environment by not making any more chargers.

However, the judge rejected this argument saying, “The claim that such a measure seeks to reduce the impacts of environmental issues is pointless since the defendant continues to manufacture such an essential accessory, but now sells it separately.” 

The judge also rejected Apple’s claim that the USB-C cable was not exclusively compatible with its products and it could also be used with power adapters from other manufacturers. As per the judge, the device has a different design and cant be used with any other USB port.

Not The First Time?

Previously, a fine of $2 million (R$ 10.5 million) was imposed on Apple by Brazil’s consumer protection agency Procon-SP for not bundling a charger in the iPhone 12 box.

Calling the move of selling a device without the charger as misleading advertising, Procon-SP said that Apple has been fined for unfair terms. Also, no demonstrations of an environmental gain from the move has been given by Apple to Procon-SP, the agency which had questioned Apple about the issue last year as well.

Also it was pointed out by the agency that there was no response by Apple whether or not the prices will be slashed after removing the charger from the bundle. The questions on price comparisons pre and post-removal of charger from the bundle and whether or not the charger production has been reduced have gone unanswered by Apple.