Apple Fined $20M By Brazilian Judge for The Sale of Chargerless iPhones

Princess HenryOctober 14, 2022

Apple has garnered a great amount of backlash for producing electronic products that lacked a charger even though one is required for charging.

A judge from Brazil, Caramuru Afonso Francisco, slapped the company with a $20 million fine on Thursday, October 13, for the “abusive practice” of selling their newer model phones without a charger, which forces customers to spend more to purchase the additional products.

In its defence, the multinational technology company outlined that they stopped adding chargers to the phone packages in October 2020 to assist with the reduction of electronic waste. However, a Brazilian judge ruled that it was a successful effort that pressures “consumers to purchase a second product for the first to work.”

The ruling was delivered on the heels of the Brazilian justice ministry’s decision to fine the California-based company a separate $2.5 million back in September over the same matter of selling the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 phone models without a charging cable.

After the Brazilian Consumers’ Association filed the lawsuit, this added fine (100M reais) was given by a Sao Paulo civil court judge as reparation. The judge also ruled that all future phone models were to include a charger and Apple was also ordered to provide a charger for all iPhone 12 and 13 models purchased in the country for the last two years.

Similarly, the European Parliament passed a new law a week ago, which states that all cameras, smartphones, and tablets are mandated to facilitate only the USB-C charging ports starting in late 2024.

This, reportedly, forces the Apple brand to restyle the designs for their devices.