Apple has been reportedly ordered by the Justice Ministry in Brazil to stop selling iPhones without a charger in the box.
According to Brazilian officials, Apple’s act of giving customers an incomplete product with the power adapter not included in the purchase is a “deliberate discriminatory practice against consumers.”
The Brazilian officials are hell bents on forcing the company to cease offering any Iphone that does not come with a power adapter, including the Iphone 12 and newer. they went further to fine Apple 12.275 million reais (~$2.34 million) for selling iPhones without chargers.
During the course of this event Apple lost a 2022 lawsuit in the country after a customer who did not receive a charger sued.
The Brazilian state of São Paulo previously fined Apple close to $2 million for not providing a charger with modern iphones, which the São Paulo consumer protection agency said was a violation of Consumer Law Code.
Apple disclosed to the Brazillian officials that not including a power adapter with the iPhone offers environmental benefits and cuts down on waste, but Brazil has thus far rejected this argument.
Apple went further to state that most customers already have power adapters on hand to charge with, and has told customers that removing these accessories is part of its effort to “reach [its] environmental goals.”
Starting with 2020 launch of iphone 12 lineup, Apple stopped providing chargers with iPhones. In most countries, Apple no longer ships iPhones with EarPods or a power adapter including just a USB-C to Lightning charging cable.
The Justice Ministry’s order comes one day ahead of Apple’s iphone 14 announcement, which will see the debut of updated iPhone 14 and iphone 14 Pro models.
Apple in a statement says it will appeal the ruling, ” At Apple, we consider our impact on people and the planet in everything we do.”
“Power adapters represented our largest use of zinc and plastic and eliminating them from the box helped cut over 2 million metric tons of carbon emissions equivalent to removing 500,000 cars from the road per year. We’ve already won a number of court decisions in Brazil on this topic and are confident our customers are aware of the various options to charge and connect their devices”, The company said.
