3 major L's for Apple in Brazil - A third court decision in Brazil in two years earned Apple it's third fine, and power adapters are now mandatory

[lospi]

Summary

 In the latest decision from Brazilian court (13/10/2022), Apple has been fined in R$100 million brazilian Reais ($19 million US dollars), and will be required to deliver USB-C power adapters to consumers that didn't receive one when buying an iPhone. This decision goes along with the 2 other court decision, that fined Apple in $2 million US dollars for not providing a power adapter with iPhone 12 (March, 2021) and along an iPhone's sales ban, with another $2.4 million US dollars fine (September, 2022). In all cases, Apple said it will appeal the decisions.

 

Quotes

Quote

 The decision of the 18th Civil Court of São Paulo also established a fine of BRL 100 million for the technology giant – an amount that will be allocated to a fund aimed at protecting consumer rights. [...] The company will be required to deliver USB-C type power adapters with a voltage of 20W, 35W, 67W, 96W or 140W to all affected Brazilian consumers.

 

My thoughts

As a brazilian, I can say that consumer protection laws here are PRETTY strong, and one law says that "tie sales" (selling a product without the required part for proper usage) are abusive practices. Many smaller cases have granted consumers a charger, along with a fine for Apple, but this time, it's a major decision from the government, and may have a huge impact on Apple, since it had a "double-digit sales growth in Brazil" in 2022. 

 

Sources

https://valor.globo.com/empresas/noticia/2022/10/13/apple-multada-em-r-100-milhes-por-vender-iphone-sem-carregador-no-brasil.ghtml

https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/20/22342051/brazil-regulator-fines-apple-2-million-chargers-iphone-12

https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en/justica/noticia/2022-09/brazil-bans-sale-iphones-without-charger

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/cons-products/electronics/apple-nearly-doubled-revenue-in-india-in-june-quarter-ceo-tim-cook/articleshow/93201128.cms?from=mdr

[ZetZet]

Yeah, so now they will supply their 5W charger and people will throw it away because it's so slow.

 

Edit:

Nvm, it seems they put in a power requirement. Which the article called voltage lmao.

[Zando_]

Good. The lack of a charger didn't bother me as I've been using iPhones since 2015 or so (so I already had a bunch), but for anyone new to phones with an iPhone as their first, or switching over from another platform, I imagine it's rather obnoxious. Also chargers get lost pretty easily in my experience, having an extra come with your new phone is always nice. 

[lospi]

7 minutes ago, ZetZet said:

Yeah, so now they will supply their 5W charger and people will throw it away because it's so slow.

 

Edit:

Nvm, it seems they put in a power requirement. Which the article called voltage lmao.

"Voltagem" is a misuse of the word voltage, but it became a slang to almost any "electricity" related term.

[jaslion]

9 minutes ago, lospi said:

"tie sales" (selling a product without the required part for proper usage) are abusive practices

Good. These kinds of laws are starting to pop up in the eu too and I'm glad Brazil can be seen as a great example of what to do in this case.

 

Sadly those fines are basically nothing for apple but at least you'll get chargers.

[Obioban]

Here's guessing they'll just raise the price of the phone by the price of the charger going forward (which is the logical thing to do).

[BuckGup]

They made back the cost of the fines by the time this article was written 

[mariushm]

1 minute ago, Dracarris said:

JFC people really think 25 Mill USD is going to even be more than a rounding error in Apples books?

Well, I guess next step could always be to reject products at customs, just confiscate the shipments or refuse entry as non-compliant.

no sales in whole Brazil would probably be something they'd "feel".

[suicidalfranco]

Good. No phone should be sold without it's charger.

[Blademaster91]

Good, the phone should include a charger, and if someone already has a USB-C charger then having an extra one is nice.

[Kisai]

4 hours ago, mariushm said:

Well, I guess next step could always be to reject products at customs, just confiscate the shipments or refuse entry as non-compliant.

no sales in whole Brazil would probably be something they'd "feel".

Brazil iphones are made in Brazil. So that's not gonna be a thing.

https://9to5mac.com/2022/04/27/apple-is-now-assembling-the-iphone-13-in-brazil-but-not-the-iphone-13-mini/

 

Apple will likely do one of two things:

1) Ignore it until it reaches whatever Brazil's supreme court is, wasting court time

2) Increase the cost of the iphone, stick both the iphone box and the USB-C wall wart box in a bigger box in Brazil.

 

All that's going to happen is that the Brazil iPhone buyers will be penalized for it.

[Bensemus]

7 hours ago, Zando_ said:

Good. The lack of a charger didn't bother me as I've been using iPhones since 2015 or so (so I already had a bunch), but for anyone new to phones with an iPhone as their first, or switching over from another platform, I imagine it's rather obnoxious. Also chargers get lost pretty easily in my experience, having an extra come with your new phone is always nice.

Any iPhone can be charged with any brick. Apple includes a lighting to C cable so you can connect to modern bricks and computers. We don’t need chargers with every device. It’s excessive. It’s why the EU is looking to ban the bundling of bricks with mobile devices. 

[Zando_]

3 minutes ago, Bensemus said:

Any iPhone can be charged with any brick. Apple includes a lighting to C cable so you can connect to modern bricks and computers. We don’t need chargers with every device. It’s excessive. It’s why the EU is looking to ban the bundling of bricks with mobile devices. 

How often are people buying phones? I get a new one every 2+ years at most, by then the extra brick is handy to have around because I've likely lost most of my other ones (I like having spares for travel stuff or if I lend mine out and don't get it back - which happens a couple times a year). I can't remember the last non-phone device that came with a standard charger... my Switch uses a USB-C cable but the brick and cable are one piece. Most other stuff I've had that needed a charger before was proprietary, not USB A/C bricks. My battery bank charges via USB-C, but it didn't include a brick to charge itself, just the bank + a USB-C to USB-C cable (I bought a USB-C to A separately, along with a separate 6-port USB-A charger to charge that brick and my switches + other devices). I don't think my Apple Watch S3 came with a brick either, I think it was just the cable.

[Ydfhlx]

15 hours ago, Obioban said:

Here's guessing they'll just raise the price of the phone by the price of the charger going forward (which is the logical thing to do).

They didn't lower when they removed chargers. Rising prices would lower their competitiveness.

[Franck]

16 hours ago, lospi said:

"Voltagem" is a misuse of the word voltage, but it became a slang to almost any "electricity" related term.

I worked in industrial application with many supplier and with many CSA, ETL and other certified electrical product for more than 15 years and never heard that term. Probably didn't hit US and Canada yet.

[Obioban]

1 hour ago, Ydfhlx said:

They didn't lower when they removed chargers. Rising prices would lower their competitiveness.

The question is not if they lowered their price-- the question is if they increased their margin. Based on their public financials, they did not-- so they reinvested the former cost of the charger into other components of the phone. 

 

I really think this is a stupid law. I hope no similar laws come to the USA, forcing me to buy a new charger I don't need every 2-3 years. 

 

Included does not mean free 

[lospi]

1 hour ago, Dracarris said:

Reality is they cherry-pick the "bad" companies and forcing Apple to do anything is en-vogue and very populistic, so they do it while ignoring the rest.

It's not going exactly like that around here. The government is going after most smartphone companies, and the majority will apppeal until it reaches the supreme court.

 

But Samsung, on the other hand, decided the easiest path, and now allow costumers to request a phone charger if they want to. Surely this might end up cheaper than the expenses on lawyer, but it's not that Apple is out of money for this...

[lospi]

2 hours ago, Franck said:

I worked in industrial application with many supplier and with many CSA, ETL and other certified electrical product for more than 15 years and never heard that term. Probably didn't hit US and Canada yet.

Sorry for not being specific: it's a common slang here in Brazil that is used to almost everything related to "electricity". Since the majority of people (including the journalist that wrote the article, from what it seems) don't know the difference between voltage, power, and other terms common to this area, "voltagem" (a mistranslation of voltage, the correct is "tensão") is commonly used.

[Gamer Schnitzel]

I spoke the truth in the last thread and was silenced for it. You can silence me but you cannot silence the truth.

 

Hopefully Apple will simply stop shipping to Brazil. They will not lose money since the sheep will just order it from the neighbouring country. Show them who's in charge Tim!

[Sauron]

On 10/13/2022 at 8:51 PM, jaslion said:

Sadly those fines are basically nothing for apple but at least you'll get chargers.

I don't know if I'd say it's "nothing", it's likely more than Apple spared by not including the cargers in the first place without even considering the cost of delivering chargers to each customer who didn't get one. Stuff like this may not place the company in any danger but it stings because it eliminates all benefits Apple got from the original decision. It's stuff like this that makes companies think twice before making anticonsumer decision to spare a pittance.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

The mandatory wattage numbers seems... un necessary. I dont like a government mandating the exact charging wattage of something

A minimum, sure, but exact wattage?

[igormp]

On 10/14/2022 at 8:09 AM, Franck said:

I worked in industrial application with many supplier and with many CSA, ETL and other certified electrical product for more than 15 years and never heard that term. Probably didn't hit US and Canada yet.

Because it's a portuguese word.

 

On 10/14/2022 at 9:35 AM, Dracarris said:

How about you demonstrate that Brazil forces manufacturers of bike lights to ship them with chargers? How much money are you ready to bet that this isn't the case?

Joke's on you, most bike lights here either come with replaceable batteries or do come with a charger. What about you stop assuming stuff about a place you do not know about?

 

On 10/14/2022 at 11:08 AM, lospi said:

But Samsung, on the other hand, decided the easiest path, and now allow costumers to request a phone charger if they want to. Surely this might end up cheaper than the expenses on lawyer, but it's not that Apple is out of money for this...

It does make sense IMO since those that do not want an extra charger can just not ask for it.

 

On 10/15/2022 at 3:14 PM, Gamer Schnitzel said:

I spoke the truth in the last thread and was silenced for it. You can silence me but you cannot silence the truth.

 

Hopefully Apple will simply stop shipping to Brazil. They will not lose money since the sheep will just order it from the neighbouring country. Show them who's in charge Tim!

Good luck with that. Also, the phones are made here, and I don't think they would like to have a useless fab wasting money because of some petty decision.

[Dracarris]

4 hours ago, igormp said:

Joke's on you, most bike lights here either come with replaceable batteries or do come with a charger. What about you stop assuming stuff about a place you do not know about?

What a horrible source of ewaste, shipping every small piece of electronics that has a rechargeable Lithium battery with a charger.

I was indeed quite sure that basic common sense prohobits such a wasteful practice. I merely brought it up to show how stupid this "married sale" law is since anyone with a bit of common sense recognizes that, if applied consistently, said law leads to a flood of unnecessary (probably cheap) chargers in the hands of consumers.

 

I was wrong.

 

Joke's on me? No, joke's on the environment.

 

If this law applied in Europe, I'd literally have 10+ additional chargers rotting in a drawer - for the sake of consumer protection. Bravo.

[suicidalfranco]

6 hours ago, Dracarris said:

What a horrible source of ewaste, shipping every small piece of electronics that has a rechargeable Lithium battery with a charger.

I was indeed quite sure that basic common sense prohobits such a wasteful practice. I merely brought it up to show how stupid this "married sale" law is since anyone with a bit of common sense recognizes that, if applied consistently, said law leads to a flood of unnecessary (probably cheap) chargers in the hands of consumers.

 

I was wrong.

 

Joke's on me? No, joke's on the environment.

 

If this law applied in Europe, I'd literally have 10+ additional chargers rotting in a drawer - for the sake of consumer protection. Bravo.

Which would be great since in currently lacking chargers but alas I leave in Europe and the environments  stomps consumer rights.

  so i find myself buying packs of unbranded chargers from alliexpress

[Dracarris]

2 hours ago, suicidalfranco said:

Which would be great since in currently lacking chargers but alas I leave in Europe and the environments  stomps consumer rights.

  so i find myself buying packs of unbranded chargers from alliexpress

I don‘t (grammatically) understand the first part. But the Aliexpress thing is on you. There are plenty of cheap but viable options on Amazon where you don‘t have to be afraid of electrocuting yourself.

 

Buying chargers from Ali is one of the stupidest and most dangerous things to do.

 

Also, don‘t buy a lot of cheap but a few Anker/Aukey combo chargers that last forever.