Brazil orders Apple to pay iPhone buyer $1,000 for not including charger
A court in Brazil's Goiania city says Apple is in violation of consumer protection laws, and must compensate a customer who was sold an iPhone without a charger.
Brazil's government has previously fined Apple for not including a charger with the iPhone 12 range
Brazil's government has previously, and also repeatedly fined Apple for not including a charger with the iPhone. Now an individual customer in the city of Goiania has won a separate case against Apple.
According to local publication Tecmundo, the ruling by Judge Vanderlei Caires Pinheiro, convicts Apple of making an illegal "married sale." According to the country's Consumer Code (CDC) devices such as a smartphone must include a charger, and can be sold separately, but the separate sale must not be mandatory to allow the device to function fully.
"This is the sale married by concealment... of abusive and illegal commercial practice, undermining the provisions of the Consumer Protection Code," ruled the judge (in translation.) "The CDC aims to protect the weakest part of the contractual relationship, ensuring it against abusive practices and clauses in the supply of products and services."
During the case, Apple reportedly argued that users are not required to buy its charger. While the iPhone uses a Lightning connector, the provided cable is USB-C to Lightning, so any USB-C charger could be used. Apple further argued that its ceasing to include a charger was from environmental concerns.
Judge Pinheiro, however, maintained that it is not possible to use the iPhone's provided charging cable with other chargers, so therefore customers are required to buy Apple's product.
Apple has been ordered to compensate, the user with 5,000 Brazilian reais ($1,064).
It's not clear what model iPhone the buyer had, but for comparison, a base-level iPhone 13 costs 6,374 Brazilian reais. A USB-C charger costs 343 Brazilian reais.
Read on AppleInsider
Brazil's government has previously fined Apple for not including a charger with the iPhone 12 range
Brazil's government has previously, and also repeatedly fined Apple for not including a charger with the iPhone. Now an individual customer in the city of Goiania has won a separate case against Apple.
According to local publication Tecmundo, the ruling by Judge Vanderlei Caires Pinheiro, convicts Apple of making an illegal "married sale." According to the country's Consumer Code (CDC) devices such as a smartphone must include a charger, and can be sold separately, but the separate sale must not be mandatory to allow the device to function fully.
"This is the sale married by concealment... of abusive and illegal commercial practice, undermining the provisions of the Consumer Protection Code," ruled the judge (in translation.) "The CDC aims to protect the weakest part of the contractual relationship, ensuring it against abusive practices and clauses in the supply of products and services."
During the case, Apple reportedly argued that users are not required to buy its charger. While the iPhone uses a Lightning connector, the provided cable is USB-C to Lightning, so any USB-C charger could be used. Apple further argued that its ceasing to include a charger was from environmental concerns.
Judge Pinheiro, however, maintained that it is not possible to use the iPhone's provided charging cable with other chargers, so therefore customers are required to buy Apple's product.
Apple has been ordered to compensate, the user with 5,000 Brazilian reais ($1,064).
It's not clear what model iPhone the buyer had, but for comparison, a base-level iPhone 13 costs 6,374 Brazilian reais. A USB-C charger costs 343 Brazilian reais.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
If the beef here is around the USB-C end then Apple could include a USB-C to USB-A adapter, which is less costly and has a smaller dump footprint than a charging brick.
Well that's just outright false. I use Apple provided charging cables with other chargers every day. That judge is either "dirty" or just plain stupid.
Meanwhile GM includes and install a level 2 charger with the purchase of the Bolt EV and EUV (not sure about the Hummer or Lyriq) and AFAIK still includes a level 1 charger in the boot.
does this judge know anything about technology?
a few days ago, Elon Musk announced that they would no longer include the mobile connector on orders placed after Apr 17 ‘because usage was so low.’ This causes a fair amount of controversy and many people, myself included suspect it was actually made as a cost saving measure. (I still think this was Apple’s primary motive, too. ‘Environmental concerns’ was just a cover.) In contrast to Apple and the iPhone charger, most people do not have an EV charger at home and it costs anywhere from $300-$500 or more to buy one as opposed to $10-20 for an iPhone charger.
Super chargers are public charging stations installed by Tesla at stores, restaurants, etc. some people use them for charging, especially those who got cars several years ago that included free charging for life, but the majority of people charge at home.
The cable doesn't work with a USB-A charger, but works fine with any USB-C charger (or USB-C port on a Mac or PC).
Apple should just raise the iPhone price in Brazil by the cost of a charger and throw in the charger, e-waste be damned. And for every iPhone sold, they'll have also sold a charger (whether the customer needs or wants it or not).