Apple has been fined $2 million by a Brazilian consumer protection institution. The institution claims that Apple has misled the consumers with “Environmental Benefits”. The tech giant has also been accused of other problems.
Apple launched its iPhone 12 series last year. Surprisingly, the firm removed the charger brick from the retail box. The retail box only consists of the iPhone 12 device and a USB Type-C to lightning port cable. The Cupertino-based firm claimed that removing the charger has significantly reduced the size of the retail box, which ultimately leads to less environmental pollution.
Users were initially upset with this strategy, however, they ultimately made peace with this as it involves the “ENVIRONMENT”.
On March 19, Procon-SP, a Brazilian consumer protection regulator, has fined Apple for not including a charging brick in the retail box and has accused Apple of misleading advertising. The tech giant has been charged a whopping $2 million( Rs 14.4 Cr).
Apple has not replied to Procon-SP’s question about whether the price of the iPhone 12 has decreased since the charger was removed, and what the price of the iPhone is with and without the charger.
This is not the first time that the agency questioned Apple. Last year, the institution challenged Apple’s strategy to stop shipping a charger in the retail box and Apple was not able to explain the “Environmental Benefits” of removing the charging brick.
Fernando Capez, executive director at Procon-SP said, “Apple needs to understand that in Brazil there are solid consumer protection laws and institutions. It needs to respect these laws and these institutions”.
The regulator has also accused Apple of other issues like the IOS update. Some users reported that their iPhones are not receiving regular IOS updates and the updates were unable to solve issues in the previous versions of IOS. The agency also reported that Apple exempts itself from legal and implicit guarantees.
Apple has not responded to these accusations. Apple’s revenue in the first quarter of 2021 was $114.4 billion, so the fine is unlikely to affect the company.
Apple, last year while launching the iPhone 12 series, claimed that removing the charging brick will be able to remove 2 million metric tonnes of carbon, which is the same as removing 450,000 cars in one year.