Apple fined $20 million for selling iPhones without charger

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A Brazilian judge on Thursday fined Apple $20 million for selling iPhones without chargers, calling it an "abusive practice" that forces customers to purchase an additional product.

The decision, which can be appealed, came after Brazil's Justice Ministry imposed a separate fine of nearly $2.5 million on Apple in September over the same issue and banned the US tech giant from selling its iPhone 12 and 13 models without a charger.< /p>

The new fine, 100 million reais, was imposed by a judge in the Civil Court of Sao Paulo as damages in a lawsuit filed by the Brazilian Consumers Association.

Apple stopped including plug-in chargers with new iPhones in October 2020, saying it wanted to help reduce e-waste.

But this ruling “effectively forces consumers to purchase a second product for the first to work,” Judge Caramuru Afonso Francisco wrote in his ruling.

He ordered the California-based company to provide chargers to all Brazilian consumers who purchased iPhone 12 or 13 models in the past two years, and to begin including them with all new purchases.< /p>

Apple is also facing charger headaches across the pond.

Last week, the European Parliament passed a law requiring all smartphones, tablets and cameras to use USB-C ports as the single charger standard from the end of 2024, which will force Apple to change the design of his phones.

AFP

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