Brazil has banned the sale of iPhones and fined Apple until the company starts putting chargers back in the box.
Back in 2020, the trillion-dollar company stopped including chargers with its phones in a move that enraged customers but allegedly saved them billions of dollars.
Now, Brazil’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP) hit the firm with a 12.275 million reais (over 2 million dollar) fine on Tuesday (September 6) for selling what it considers an insufficient product, as reported by Reuters.
The ministry explained that the iPhone was being marketed without its necessary component in a "deliberate discriminatory practice" against consumers.
As a result of the fine, the firm will no longer be able to sell iPhone models 12 and onwards in the country until it starts including a charger.
In a release shared on its website, the MJSP wrote: "The sale of iPhone cell phones unaccompanied by battery chargers has been suspended throughout the national territory."
The decision to stop the sale of the phones comes after Brazil’s consumer protection agency (SENACON) opened a case in December last year - when Apple was sued for the very same reason: selling phones without a charger.
"The chargers are tying, selling an incomplete product or lacking essential functionality, refusing to sell a complete product through discrimination against the consumer and transferring responsibility to third parties," the MJSP added.
Apple argued that the move offered environmental advantages, but Brazilian officials were skeptical and said there was no proof to back up the claim that shipping phones without chargers decreased carbon emissions.
The California-based company has now announced that it would continue working with SENACON to "address their concerns and plan to appeal this decision".
"We’ve already won a number of court decisions in Brazil on this topic and are confident our customers are aware of the various options to charge and connect their devices," they added.
Brazil’s ban comes just one day ahead of Apple’s Far Out event - where it’s expected to reveal the new iPhone 14 and apple watches in the first in-person launch event since the pandemic began.
However, it looks like that won't matter in Brazil because according to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, the only phone available in the country through Apple’s website is the iPhone 12.
