Apple must pay compensation to a consumer in Brazil for selling an iPhone without a charger. The judge ruled that the practice violated consumer protection laws.
Apple's decision to stop including chargers in iPhone packaging boxes since 2020 is indeed controversial. Apple argues the policy is done to make iPhones environmentally friendly, and claims the policy is equivalent to removing 450,000 cars from the streets every year.
Apple consumers still can not accept this decision. In a recent development, a judge in Brazil is suing Apple to pay a customer 5,000 Brazilian rials in damages for selling an iPhone without a charger.
"According to article 39 of the Consumer Code (CDC), tie sale is a cruel practice and is prohibited in Brazil, so it is not permissible to sell cell phones and chargers separately," the judge said. ).
"Therefore, Apple was convicted after selling iPhone models and chargers separately to consumers in the city of Goiânia. Based on the results issued by Judge Vanderlei Caires Pinheiro, of the 6th Civil Court of Goiânia, Apple must compensate consumers R$ 5 thousand for committing 'tie sale' on their devices," he continued.
'Tie sale' refers to the practice of forcing the user to buy two products for one product to work. In this case, the judge assessed that consumers who had to buy a charger after buying a new iPhone were a tie sale practice.
For not providing a charger in the sale of iPhones, Apple is considered to be violating consumer protection laws in Brazil. Apple of course argues that today's users already have a lot of chargers in their homes so they don't need a new charger every time they buy a cellphone.
This isn't the first time Apple has run into trouble in Brazil over an iPhone charger. Last year Apple had to pay a $2 million fine for violating consumer protection laws and disrespecting Brazilian consumers.
It is not known whether these fines and lawsuits will make Apple change its mind and re-include chargers in iPhone sales. Apple has also made this exception in France, where there is a law that requires cell phone vendors to include chargers and earbuds in the box that comes with the phone.
