Brazil court fines Apple Rs4b, orders to ship iPhone with charger

A Brazilian court on Thursday fined Apple 100 million reais ($19 million) and ruled that battery chargers must come with new iPhones sold in the country.

The Sao Paulo state court ruled against Apple in a lawsuit, filed by the association of borrowers, consumers and taxpayers, which argued= that the company commits abusive practices by selling its flagship product without a charger.

Apple said it will appeal the decision.

Previously, the tech firm argued that the practice had the purpose of reducing carbon emissions.

The decision read that, “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.”

Sales of iPhone 12 and other variants were banned by the Justice Ministry of Brazil because they didn’t pack a charging brick, claiming that the company is conducting “deliberate discriminatory practice against consumers”, by lacking what is actually an ‘essential component’.

The Justice Ministry claimed at the time that there was no evidence that the exclusion of the charger was protecting the environment.

Also Read: Single phone charger reform approved in EU, Apple forced to adapt

This comes amidst the newly passed EU law for a universal charger, which could force Apple to kill its proprietary Lightning Connector in favour of the more universally-used USB Type-C connector.