Last month, the Justice Ministry in Brazil fined Apple $2.34 million for selling iPhones without chargers and also ordered the company to stop selling any iPhone that does not come with a charger in the box. Today, the Cupertino company was again slapped with a huge fine for the very same thing.
As per a Reuters report, Brazil’s Sao Paulo civil court on Thursday fined Apple 100 million reais ($19 million) and ordered that new iPhones sold in the country must come with battery chargers.
In his ruling, Judge Caramuru Afonso Francisco also ordered Apple to provide chargers to all consumers in Brazil who purchased iPhone 12 or iPhone 13 devices in the past two years. However, it is not a final decision and can be appealed further.
“It is evident that, under the justification of a ‘green initiative,’ the defendant imposes on the consumer a required purchase of charger adaptors that were previously supplied along with the product,” said the court’s decision.
Apple was previously fined nearly $2.5 million by Brazil’s justice ministry over the same issue, and it was barred from selling the iPhone 12 and 13 without chargers. In response to this, the tech giant said that not including a power adapter with the iPhone has environmental benefits and cuts down on waste.
With the 2020 launch of the iPhone 12 lineup, Apple ceased to provide chargers with its phones. Other manufacturers like Samsung and Google also followed the lead and stopped including power adaptors with their premium devices.
In related news, EU legislators recently approved a new directive requiring manufacturers to offer USB-C as a common charging port across a wide range of devices by 2024. This will force Apple to switch over to USB-C chargers for its upcoming iPhones.
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