Apple Must Compensate Brazilian Customer Over $1,000 for Selling iPhone Without a Charger, Judge Rules

[1madman1]

I see nothing wrong with penalizing Apple for ignoring a local law. Personally I'm someone who would need a new charger with a new phone and view Apple's stance on the subject to be a strawman for increasing profits just like most of their other feigned "green" policies lately.

When I change phones I sell off the old one - with it's original charger, box, and whatever else it came with. It's my understanding that my existing iPhone X charger wont work with the included cable on a new iPhone anyway as they've switched to C-type. I currently own literally zero C-type peripherals.

 

[laptech]

I thought it was April's fools day when I read the post. I mean, how many people in Brazil have purchased a new iphone since Apple introduced the removal of the charger? there must be thousands upon thousands of them but yet there has been no 'reported' complaints until now and a Judge has found Apple to have broken Brazilian consumer law. If that is the case then why wasn't this issue brought to the public's attention when the first iphones without chargers were purchased in Brazil? why only now are we hearing about consumer law being broken?

Is this a case of a customer 'trying it on' and found a Judge who supported the customers complaint?

 

[ninecows]

So, I’ll buy a TV without charging brick, or a kettle without its lead, a car without wheels. Ridiculous. The option should be the consumers.

Do you require a charger (bear in mind your old one will work just fine)
No, I have one
Great, enjoy your phone.

Yes, I wish to sell my old phone, with charger.
Here you go, sir, one charger to accompany your new phone.

Well… the cable for the old charger is wearing out. The plastic on the cord before the plug is nearly gone.

But hey… there’s a brand new cable in the box ? Thank you, Apple!

WTF?!? The new USB C doesn’t fit into the old USB-A charger! ??

Now if they made lightning cables that would last for years the “saving the environment” argument might pass, but not when they change the standard at the charger end and have crappy cables.

 

[ds2000]

Batteries not included case incoming....

 

[bassexpander]

At one point, it seemed plausible that Brazil would have forced Apple to include a charger in the box for every ‌iPhone‌ sold in the country. Procon-SP said that the charger is an "essential part" of the smartphone experience.

Really?!?! Rubbish!!!!

Dang! Does this mean that I can sue an auto manufacturer for not supplying me with gas for the life of my car? After all, gas is an essential part of the car experience.

What if Apple decided to make you pay extra for a camera next? How would you feel about that?

 

[Bandaman]

Well… the cable for the old charger is wearing out. The plastic on the cord before the plug is nearly gone.

But hey… there’s a brand new cable in the box ? Thank you, Apple!

WTF?!? The new USB C doesn’t fit into the old USB-A charger! ??

Now if they made lightning cables that would last for years the “saving the environment” argument might pass, but not when they change the standard at the charger end and have crappy cables.

Quit spouting logical things.

 

[t0rqx]

Good for him/her. If Apple really wanted to save the environment they would deduct the cost of the charger from the iPhone price and let people buy one if necessary. By not doing that it is an illegal commercial practice.

 

[aleksander]

It's really SIMPLE. When ordering a phone, include an option to NOT include the standard charger and reduce the total price accordingly. The phone box can remain the same, just have the charger as a separate box. It really won't degrade any experience nor the environment.

 

[TrancyGoose]

It seems very reasonable that people want a charger for their device .... it has nothing to do with environment... it's profiteering, that's it!

 

[RadioHedgeFund]

People who are giving Apple **** for not including chargers with iPhones haven't thought this through. It does actually make sense. People who buy a new iPhone every year don't need a new charger every year if the charger stays the same. They just need the phone. It really would be a waste to give those people a new charger every year.

Another thing people aren't thinking through about this is that they feel ripped off for Apple not including the charger. But if Apple were to include the charger, they'd simply make the phone 50 bucks more expensive. You, the consumer, wouldn't be gaining anything for free from Apple including the charger. It's naive to believe otherwise. It makes more sense that people who need a charger just buy it separately and those who don't need it don't have to implicitly pay for it via a higher iPhone sale price.

Why is this such a big deal?

Apple's motivation was entirely self-centred: Most upgraders only had USB-A chargers ar home, not C. They don't buy an iPhone every year but every 2-3 years.

They didn't cut £30 off the price of the iPhone to compensate for the loss of a charger in the box; you paid the same and got less for your money. Any crap they said about 'protecting the environment' was cancelled out by the amount of money Apple were saving on shipping costs going right into their back pocket. Other companies saw what they were doing and jumped on the same bandwagon.

Apple are getting crap because it was a selfish cost-saving/accessory-selling measure that they sold as an environmental one. Any loss of shipping emissions was largely wiped out by pandemic-realted deliveries and the larger sales figures of the 12 range.

Its worth pointing out that not every company has pulled a fast one. Xiaomi and Oppo not only include a 30w charger in the box but also a clear 'condom' case as well.

I remember when Apple stood for value as well as quality. I got a charger, headphones and a dock with my OG Model.

 

[Pezimak]

You responded to a comment which included a link to an article discussing how Apple avoided 600MT of plastic waste by not using plastic wrapping on iPhones anymore….

That's one device. Anymore?

 

[Pezimak]

I disagree although no one will change anyones mind. Getting to the point of being green as possible, carbon neutral as possible, environmentally friendly as possible is not a snap of the fingers. It’s an incremental process.

I agree with that, but they need to reduce their use of plastics, stopping the wrapping of every iPhone helps, but what about all the other things they wrap in plastic still? It is a slow process as you say, it is good to see they are making changes, they just have further to go.

 

[Pezimak]

I didn't watch a video, I bought a Mac and mine wasn't wrapped in plastic.

What Mac was it? Desktop or laptop?

 

[Pezimak]

There's literally no videos of an M1 MacBook Pro where the box is wrapped in plastic. They don't do that anymore. My M1 MacBook Air didn't have plastic either. They have the plastic film on the devices themselves and that's it.

Not to prove you wrong but a quick search and a 1 month old video:

Perhaps it's country specific? But they clearly DO still wrap computer boxes in plastic.

Here's a MacBook Air unboxing video posted yesterday, again it's clearly wrapped in plastic, Watch from 2mins 50 seconds:

So as I said Apple has much further to go, they really don't need to wrap their computer boxes in plastic or it's iPads, or wrap Apple pencils in plastic inside the box also wrapped in plastic.

 

[AppleHore]

Not to prove you wrong but a quick search and a 1 month old video:

Perhaps it's country specific? But they clearly DO still wrap computer boxes in plastic.

Here's a MacBook Air unboxing video posted yesterday, again it's clearly wrapped in plastic, Watch from 2mins 50 seconds:

So as I said Apple has much further to go, they really don't need to wrap their computer boxes in plastic or it's iPads, or wrap Apple pencils in plastic inside the box also wrapped in plastic.

Exactly. It’s all a lie. The only reason they want no charger is for a thinner iPhone box so they can use all of that shipping volume to reduce their costs shipping over from China. So obvious to me it doesn’t even warrant a debate from the peanut gallery of devil’s advocates.

 

[gsurf123]

How about Apple sells it for the price they want +$25. If you don’t take the charger there is a $25 rebate.

 

[hrpanjwani]

Apple will have to appeal the ruling otherwise suddenly everyone there will go to court to get a free iphone.

 

[Silverado]

C’mon people!! It is plain as day. I’m a huge Apple fan, but it is obvious that removing the charger for environmental reasons only is BS. Why can’t we believe that Apple makes great products AND also care a lot about profit? And they included a cable that you can’t use with the chargers you already have! So you had to buy another charger from them to use it! Obvious BS.

 

[cjducasse]

I’m not an apple apologists. Their argument for not including the brick was stupid AF. They included a USB-C to lightning cable and their argument was everyone already has charging bricks from all their old phones.

 

[iLLUMI]

They should just hand them out alongside the phone if it's going to be an issue.

Exactly!!
If people need a charger, for example new customers or people upgrading their phones from a much older phone, then the customer should be allowed to request one for free.
But then if that customer onsells their phone down the track and upgrades, they may need to sell that phone with the charger, which would then leave them without a charger again. So they would have to request another one which again should be allowed as they're purchasing a new device.

 

[JazzyGB1]

You seriously think retail price is directly related to cost?

Now look at phone pricing against CPI year over year. iPhone X was $999 in Nov 2017, which would be $1125 on Nov 2021…. Yet the iPhone 13 pro is $999…. A $125 savings despite more cameras, more storage, etc.

Yet you’re worried about a $2 manuf cost charger.

That's not a like for like comparison.

The iPhone X was the flagship top of the range phone when introduced and cost £999 sterling (adjusted for inflation that's £1,118.24).

The new top of the range iPhone is the 13 Pro Max which retails from £1049, so it's £30.76 more expensive...and it doesn't have a charger!

Better cameras, more storage etc is a red herring.

Tech always gets cheaper and specs always improve. That's why a 15" iMac in 2002 with 128MB RAM and a 40GB storage cost £1149 compared to the same machine 15 years later in 2017 costing £1049, despite having a 21" display, 8GB RAM and 1TB of storage. Adjusted for inflation that makes the 2017 iMac cost just £678.35 if priced in 2002, so in reality the 2017 iMac was better specced and £440 cheaper than it's 2002 counterpart.

My point is tech always improves and costs always goes down as it proliferates, so there is no excuse for Apple to have increased the prices of the handsets. And these increases gets worse the further you go back too.

When introduced in 2014 the flagship iPhone 6 Plus for example cost £619 (adjusted for inflation in 2021 that'd be £737.41).

So today's flagship iPhone 13 Pro Max at £1049 is actually 42% more expensive than it's counterpart was 8 years ago..and it doesn't have a charger.

 

[UKitsme]

didnt the buyer realise there would be no charger?
anyway easy option would be at point of sale just to ask is a charger required? if yes here it is iof no then dont complain later. and the size of the "fine", it maight have been cheaper for apple top say ok return the phine and well make a full refund

 

[I7guy]

Good for him/her. If Apple really wanted to save the environment they would deduct the cost of the charger from the iPhone price and let people buy one if necessary. By not doing that it is an illegal commercial practice.

Apple is not going to reduce prices. They will charge extra, if it comes down to that, for the charger. They’ll save the environment by raising prices such that people will think twice if a charger is needed.

 

[bobcomer]

The price of new tech in new phones is more expensive than old tech in new phones.Apple would be within their rights to raise the price. It’s true apple saves money over hundreds of millions of iPhones by eliminating manufacturing and packing costs, reduced greenhouse gases etc. New iPhones cost more to manufacture.

That's only an assumption on your part -- a follow on product isn't always more expensive to make! I would bet that part of their design team only works on making things cheaper. It increases the margin and all companies like that.

 

[I7guy]

That's only an assumption on your part -- a follow on product isn't always more expensive to make! I would bet that part of their design team only works on making things cheaper. It increases the margin and all companies like that.

No, pretty much a truism new tech is more expensive but cost falls as capacity scales. As an example Do you believe the new 3mm tmsc process cost nothing additional to get up and running? Plug and play?