Italy fines Apple 10M euro over water resistance marketing

Apple has been hit by a fine from the Italian Antitrust Authority for 10 million euro ($12M) over claims it misled consumers in marketing the water-resistance of its iPhones.

Levied on Monday, the fine from the regulator was laid against Apple Distribution International and Apple Italia SRL, over two commercial practices in how it marketed iPhones, ranging from the iPhone 8 until the iPhone 11 generation. The issues largely relate to Apple's advertising for water resistance features of its devices.

In its advertising, Apple says its iPhones can withstand water for depths ranging from 1 meter to 4 meters, and for up to 30 minutes. On the first count, Apple was accused of not properly clarifying to consumers that the depths and timing work under specific conditions, such as lab-controlled testing with static and pure water.

There is also an issue with the disclaimer Apple offers, in that "the guarantee" doesn't cover liquid damage, something that goes against the prominent advertising boasts over water resistance. It also apparently isn't clear if the guarantee mentioned by Apple refers to a conventional or legal guarantee, while Apple was also accused of failing to properly contextualize the conditions and limitations of water resistance claims.

The Antitrust Authority also thought it was inappropriate for Apple to refuse offering warranty assistance for liquid damage following sales, which was deemed to be hindering consumer rights enshrined by law and the country's Consumer Code.

Sanctions against both Apple Distribution International and Apple Italia SRL include both the fine and an order to publish a link on its website covering Italy linking to a document about the regulatory findings.

17 Comments

CloudTalkin 916 comments · 5 Years

About 3 years ago

Good. Now go after the rest of the tech industry giants for the same BS (looking at you Samsung... and L'il Wayne). If companies are going to actively market their product's resistance to liquid, then cover liquid damage under warranty. This is important on phones, but even more critical on smartwatches that are even more prominently advertised for their wet work.

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

Funny how we watch YouTube videos of iPhones submerged for hours with no damage. Then we see reports on various blogs, and the Apple Discussion Forums, from users who dropped their iPhone in a water puddle and it died instantly. The marketing and “testing” don’t seem to align themselves with the real world. If Apple’s claims are valid then it would seem the devices affected should be covered by the warranty.

EsquireCats 1268 comments · 8 Years

lkrupp said:

Funny how we watch YouTube videos of iPhones submerged for hours with no damage. Then we see reports on various blogs, and the Apple Discussion Forums, from users who dropped their iPhone in a water puddle and it died instantly. The marketing and “testing” don’t seem to align themselves with the real world. If Apple’s claims are valid then it would seem the devices affected should be covered by the warranty.

Obviously whatever wording apple uses in the region will need to be rectified to be in the same spirit as "water resistance" versus "water proof".

But just an anecdote: I have an iPhone X, I still take underwater photos with it (including in crashing waves) and it has lived at the bottom of a busy swimming pool for hours by accident. I don't use a case, and have dropped the phone plenty in its lifetime.

If you consider the number of iPhone sold while marketed as "water resistant" then we'd know by now if Apple were lying here.

MplsP 4020 comments · 8 Years

Every water resistance claim I have seen so the iPhone specifically references the IP standards, so I’m not sure how Italy can complain about that.

As far as the second claim goes I can see both sides - Apple is marketing their phones as being water resistant to xx meters for yy minutes, but then refuses to honor their warranty if they get wet. WTF? On the other hand, what’s to prevent someone from filing a warranty claim after taking their phone too deep or leaving it under water for a week?

elijahg 2822 comments · 18 Years

lkrupp said:

Funny how we watch YouTube videos of iPhones submerged for hours with no damage. Then we see reports on various blogs, and the Apple Discussion Forums, from users who dropped their iPhone in a water puddle and it died instantly. The marketing and “testing” don’t seem to align themselves with the real world. If Apple’s claims are valid then it would seem the devices affected should be covered by the warranty.

Dropping your phone from a reasonable height into a puddle is likely to compromise the waterproof integrity, and that should not be covered under warranty. However, touting waterproofness in marketing then explicitly excluding all cases of water ingress from warranty claims should not be legal. There's no difference between this and them excluding any other part of the phone they've advertised, the camera for example. "Camera excluded from warranty" would cause uproar.