Ahead of iPhone 14 event, Brazil suspends iPhone sales without power brick and fines Apple

Brazil’s Justice Ministry has determined the suspension of iPhone sales without a power brick. In addition, the government has fined the Cupertino company a $2.3M bill. This was published in today’s Brazilian Federal Register.

The information comes from the Brazilian publication g1. The Justice Ministry wrote:

“Application of a fine in the amount of BRL 12,274,500, cancellation of registration of iPhone brand smartphones introduced on the market from the iPhone 12 model, and immediate suspension of supply of all iPhone-branded smartphones, regardless of model or generation unaccompanied by the power brick,” says the decision.

The government decided it won’t apply the daily fine if Apple doesn’t suspend iPhone sales without a power brick immediately. This will only occur if the Cupertino company doesn’t follow local guidelines in the near future.

In October of 2021, the Justice Ministry notified Apple and Samsung about the companies not being clear regarding why they removed the power brick from their smartphone lines. This May, the government asked Brazil’s consumer protection regulator to start with administrative proceedings against Apple and Samsung.

With the introduction of Galaxy Z Flip4 and Z Fold 4 in Brazil, Samsung complied with Brazilian government guidelines and is now including the power brick with the new smartphones. Apple, on the other hand, doesn’t have the accessory in the iPhone boxes.

In October of 2020, when it introduced the iPhone 12 line, Apple said it was aiming to be carbon neutral by 2030. With customers owning several power bricks at home, according to the company, it would be more beneficial for the environment to not offer a power brick with newer iPhones. That said, governments all over the world have sued Apple or asked for clarification. In some cases, the company had to distribute the power brick with new iPhone sales.

Apple hasn’t commented on the matter yet.

Update: Comment from Apple

Apple has decided to comment on the matter. The company claims that it will appeal the Brazilian government’s decision as it believes that removing the plug adapter from the iPhone box is helping to reduce the planet’s carbon footprint (via TechTudo).

At Apple, we consider our impact on people and the planet in everything we do. Power adapters represented our largest use of zinc and plastic, and eliminating them from the box helped reduce more than 2 million metric tons of carbon emissions – the equivalent of removing 500,000 cars from the road each year.

There are billions of USB-A power adapters already in use around the world that our customers can use to charge and connect their devices. We have already won several court decisions in Brazil on this issue and are confident that our customers are aware of the various options for charging and connecting their devices. We will continue to work with Senacon to address their concerns and plan to appeal this decision.