In context: Apple started an unfortunate trend of omitting the charger from the box when it announced the iPhone 12 in 2020. Brazil has fought to get the charger back for three generations of iPhones now, but has only imposed restrictions. fines that are a drop in the bucket for the world. most valuable company.
Sao Paulo State Court rendered a 100 million reais ($19 million) decision once morest Apple on Thursday. She ruled, for the third time in Brazil, that Apple had violated consumer law by selling iPhones without chargers and ordered the Cupertino company to reverse its unpopular policy. Apple said it plans to appeal the verdict.
“It is evident that, under the pretext of a ‘green initiative’, the defendant imposes on the consumer a compulsory purchase of charger adapters which were previously supplied with the product,” the court said.
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Sao Paulo’s consumer protection agency Procon-SP was the first to open an investigation into Apple’s practices in late 2020. It announced in March 2021 that its investigation had stalled following Apple stopped respond to their requests for information. He fined the company 10.5 million reais (then $1.9 million) and told it to put the chargers back in the box for the first time.
Credit: Steve Johnson
“Apple needs to understand that in Brazil there are strong consumer protection laws and institutions. It must respect these laws and these institutions,” said Procon-SP executive director Fernando Capez.
Brazil went following Apple once more this year in September. The Ministry of Justice and Security has fined the company 12.28 million rand (regarding $2.34 million) for omitting the charger from the box on the grounds that Apple was selling an incomplete product. He ordered the company to hand over the chargers for the second time. Apple obviously hasn’t done that yet.
Apple defends its position by saying that it is more environmentally friendly. Apple executives said onstage at the iPhone 12 announcement that the shift to smaller, lighter packaging should prevent two million tons of carbon from entering the atmosphere each year. It also aimed to reduce the number of unused chargers that become e-waste, but following-action analysis found the impact of the change was likely minimal.
Brazil’s National Consumer Secretariat (Senacon) took issue with Apple’s claims regarding environmental concerns. It indicates that Apple might use more effective measures to protect the environment, such as replacing the Lightning port with USB-C. Brazil announced a proposal to make USB-C mandatory in all phones from July 1, 2024, earlier this year.
Titre : Will Porada