The Consumer Protection Agency in the state of São Paulo in Brazil fined Apple $ 2 million for not including chargers inside the iPhone 12 boxes, 9to5 Mac. Procon-SP says Apple is engaging in “misleading advertising, selling a device without the charger and unfair terms.”
Apple announced in October that the iPhone 12 would not come with chargers or earbuds in their boxes, citing the environment. By including only a USB-C after-lightning cable with iPhone 12 and other new models, Apple said they could reduce the raw materials for every iPhone it sells, in addition to the size of the phones’ boxes. Critics suggested that the change had more to do with the fact that Apple could reduce shipping costs, and environmental experts said the impact on the environment would likely be minimal.
Procon said it had asked Apple if the company would lower the price of the iPhone 12 as there are no chargers, and received no response. The agency also accused the company of not helping customers who had ‘problems with some features’ on their iPhones. An agency spokesman said Apple should respect these laws and these institutions.
The fine does not appear to be particularly worrying for Apple, which had revenue of $ 111.4 billion in the first quarter of 2021 (the total includes holiday sales of iPhone 12 models in 2020).
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday The edge.