Brazilian judge says Apple must pay $1000 to customer for not including iPhone charger
The judgment comes after Apple had previously been fined by the Brazilian government for failing to include chargers with new iPhone purchases.
A recent ruling from a judge in Brazil could have a major impact on the mobile phone buying experience. A man in the city of Goiânia purchased a new iPhone, which did not include a charger in its retail box. The issue made its way to a local court and the presiding judge has ordered Apple to compensate the customer five thousand Brazilian real (roughly $1000 USD).
Apple first made the decision to stop including chargers with their iPhone retail boxes back in 2020 when it first launched the iPhone 12. Each of the company’s flagship mobile devices has been shipping without included chargers since. The Brazilian government has previously butted heads with Apple on the issue. Back in March of 2020, government regulators slapped Apple with a $2 million dollar fine over the issue.
At one point, officials in Sau Paulo mandated that the iPhone could not be sold without a charger within their jurisdiction. Apple defended its decision, attempting to explain that the removal of the charging hardware was a benefit to the environment. It claimed that the decision to eliminate the chargers resulted in a carbon footprint reduction equivalent to removing nearly 450,000 cars from the road per year. Apple also argued that most households already have one or more compatible chargers available, though its proprietary Lighting charging cables are incompatible with any non-Apple product.
There is speculation that the ruling from the 6th Civil Court of Goiânia could set a precedent for similar cases moving forward. For more coverage on Apple, the iPhone, and all things tech, be sure to keep checking in with us here at Shacknews.
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