In what could be interesting, Brazil’s consumer protection agency Procon-SP has charged Apple a fine of nearly 2 million. The reason for imposing such a huge fine against the Cupertino tech giant is due to the failure of including charger within iPhone 12 boxes.
As per a 9to5Mac report, Procon-SP fined Apple “for misleading advertising, selling a device without the charger and unfair terms.” The report even noted the regulator to have questioned Apple about its new policy last year. Procon-SP cited that the iPhone maker didn’t demonstrate environment gain from the initiative.
The São Paulo-based regulator in its latest decree has asked Apple whether it would reduce the iPhone 12’s price given there were no chargers included. However, Apple didn’t provide any response. The agency also accused Apple of failing to help users who had “problems with some functions” on their iPhones following the iOS update.
Procon-SP Executive Director Fernando Capez quoted saying, “Apple needs to understand that in Brazil there are solid consumer protection laws and institutions. It needs to respect these laws and these institutions.”
While Apple didn’t give any response to the regulator’s inquiries, The Verge cites that fine would barely impact the company given it had earned $111.4 billion in revenue in Q1, 2021.
To recall, Apple in October announced that it would not include any charger or earbuds within iPhone 12 boxes due to environmental concerns. While the company cited the initiative to reduce the e-waste problem, critics, however, claimed the move had more to do with reducing shipping costs. The iPhone 12 was launched in India at a starting price of Rs 79,900. The phone features a 6.10-inch with 1170×2532 pixel resolution, A14 Bionic chip, dual 12-megapixel rear camera, and IP68 rated water and dust resistance. The phone only came bundled with a USB-C to Lightning cable which as per Apple was meant to reduce the raw materials for each iPhone it sold.
