William Gallagher
A court in Brazil's Goiania city says Apple is in violation of consumer protection laws, and must compensate a customer who was sold an iPhone without a charger.
Brazil's government has previously, and also repeatedly fined Apple for not including a charger with the iPhone. Now an individual customer in the city of Goiania has won a separate case against Apple.
According to local publication Tecmundo, the ruling by Judge Vanderlei Caires Pinheiro, convicts Apple of making an illegal "married sale." According to the country's Consumer Code (CDC) devices such as a smartphone must include a charger, and can be sold separately, but the separate sale must not be mandatory to allow the device to function fully.
"This is the sale married by concealment... of abusive and illegal commercial practice, undermining the provisions of the Consumer Protection Code," ruled the judge (in translation.) "The CDC aims to protect the weakest part of the contractual relationship, ensuring it against abusive practices and clauses in the supply of products and services."
During the case, Apple reportedly argued that users are not required to buy its charger. While the iPhone uses a Lightning connector, the provided cable is USB-C to Lightning, so any USB-C charger could be used. Apple further argued that its ceasing to include a charger was from environmental concerns.
Judge Pinheiro, however, maintained that it is not possible to use the iPhone's provided charging cable with other chargers, so therefore customers are required to buy Apple's product.
Apple has been ordered to compensate, the user with 5,000 Brazilian reais ($1,064).
It's not clear what model iPhone the buyer had, but for comparison, a base-level iPhone 13 costs 6,374 Brazilian reais. A USB-C charger costs 343 Brazilian reais.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
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Andrew Orr
18 Comments
I don't know why they don't just bundle them by default for R$6717 and allow a customer to optionally save R$343 by opting out of the charger.
Does Tesla include a personal charging station with its cars?
If the beef here is around the USB-C end then Apple could include a USB-C to USB-A adapter, which is less costly and has a smaller dump footprint than a charging brick.
Stupid lawsuit. Apple made it clear that the phone doesn't come with a charger, you have the option not to buy the phone. I could see and issue if they led you to believe the charger was included. And why is the compensation not just the cost of the charger if that is the issue.