Apple banned from selling any iPhone without a charger in Brazil
The Brazilian government has ruled that Apple can no longer sell iPhone products without a bundled charger in Brazil.
The Ministry of Justice and Public Security in Brazil has suspended the sale of any iPhone without chargers in the country, from the iPhone 12 onwards, as well as issuing Apple with a fine of 12.2 million Brazilian reals (about £2 million).
As the official news post reads (via machine translation), “Apple has been sued for selling the smartphones, since the iPhone 12, without the respective power charger for wall socket.”
Brazil’s legislator has charged that Apple is guilty of selling an “incomplete product” or one that is “stripped of essential functionality”, as well as “discrimination against the consumer”.
Apple’s argument that it was doing so on the grounds of environmental concerns didn’t wash with the Brazilian government, as “the company’s decision to sell the devices without a charger ended up transferring the entire burden to the consumer”. It also argued that a switch to the universal USB-C charging standard would be a better way to reduce environmental impact, if that truly was Apple’s aim.
Brazil’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security threatens “even more serious punishments” if Apple persists with its infractions.
Apple is set to unveil a four-strong line-up of new iPhones later today. None of the iPhone 14 range are expected to come with bundled chargers, nor are they expected to mark the company making the switch to the industry-standard USB-C connector.
Presumably, sales of the iPhone 14 family won’t be going ahead in Brazil without serious intervention from Apple.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
