In September Brazil’s government ordered Apple to cease sales in Brazil of iPhone’s without a battery charger in the box, claiming that the company provides an incomplete product to consumers. As Apple has not yet done so, a Brazilian regulator has seized iPhones from retail stores in the country.
As first reported by Tecnoblog, Procon-DF has seized “hundreds of iPhones in different retail stores in Brasilia,” the capital of Brazil… [T]he iPhones were seized at carrier stores and authorized Apple resellers…
Although Apple stopped shipping the accessory for free with iPhone 12, the company also updated iPhone 11 with a new, more compact box without the charger.
After the iPhones were seized, Apple Brazil requested the government to allow sales of the smartphone in the country until the final decision of the dispute. The company told Tecnoblog that it continues to sell iPhones in Brazil despite the operation.
As noted by MacMagazine, Judge Diego Câmara Alves, who allowed the company to continue selling iPhones in Brazil until a final ruling, believes that the company is not violating any consumer rights. The judge also claims that the Brazilian regulator is “abusing its power” with such a decision.
MacDailyNews Take: As Apple explained during its “Hi, Speed” iPhone 12 event on October 13, 2020, excluding the charger reduces the size of the iPhone box so that 70% more devices can fit on a shipping pallet which allows Apple to reduce yearly carbon emissions by some 2 million metric tons.
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All Apple has done is shifting costs, packaging, and shipping to other vendors (or itself) who have to provide separate chargers, packaging, and shipping.
With a houseful of chargers, I appreciate they’re not including chargers I’ll never use in boxes of new iPhones.
If you truly cared then, you wouldn’t upgrade at all.
Apple apologist that’s all well and good for you, but what about customers who NEED a charger? More apologies for Apple, or do you have a solution?
As Lexxaholic correctly pointed out, Apple is simply shifting the burden for carbon emission pollution to other vendors, while making MORE money by offering LESS, then pretentiously wrapping themselves in the green Mother Earth flag…
I still have unused chargers in the old iPhone boxes that I have, for some odd reason, kept. I think overall most people buying high end phones now don’t need a charger.
However I agree with you on them wrapping themselves in the green flag. That’s just spin.
Scientifically ignorant, but socially influencing “fashionistas” hurt the noble cause of conservation more than they help it.
If you want to make a dent in global warming, you start with the biggest transgressors. That would be oil and coal. Not the only, but the largest greenhouse gas producers (and war producers) on the planet.
Further to that, for as long as one is processing oil, by necessity they will need to produce plastics, if only to contain the unsaturated hydrocarbon by products, which are themselves greenhouse gasses. That’s right, plastic is messy, but it solves a problem.
Electric vehicles are the immediate future, followed by hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. And no, I’m not ruling out nuclear, if needed, to produce hydrogen.
Shifting emissions and pollution, too. Like electric cars.
Two things that will annoy the heck out of you and provoke a loud and long rebuttal full of insults and misinformation filled links:
1) The Trump era is over.
2) The era of the electric car is here. Not all cars will be electric anytime soon, but we are moving that way.
So you are all for electric coal polution?
No, of course not. But I know what you’re doing. Here you go:
FACT: Electric vehicles typically have a smaller carbon footprint than gasoline cars, even when accounting for the electricity used for charging.Electric vehicles (EVs) have no tailpipe emissions. Generating the electricity used to charge EVs, however, may create carbon pollution. The amount varies widely based on how local power is generated, e.g., using coal or natural gas, which emit carbon pollution, versus renewable resources like wind or solar, which do not. Even accounting for these electricity emissions, research shows that an EV is typically responsible for lower levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) than an average new gasoline car. To the extent that more renewable energy sources like wind and solar are used to generate electricity, the total GHGs associated with EVs could be even lower. (In 2020, renewables became the second-most prevalent U.S. electricity source.1 ) Learn more about electricity production in your area by visiting EPA’s Power Profiler (https://www.epa.gov/egrid/power-profiler#/) interactive web page. By simply inputting your zip code, you can find the energy mix in your region.
EPA and DOE’s Beyond Tailpipe Emissions Calculator (https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=bt2) can help you estimate the greenhouse gas emissions associated with charging and driving an EV or a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) where you live. You can select an EV or PHEV model and type in your zip code to see the CO2 emissions and how they stack up against those associated with a gasoline car.
Pssst…. refining oil top produce gasoline has a far larger carbon footprint, and it’s in perpetuity!
The simple answer is just bundle the charger outside the box. It doesn’t have to be inside.
As for the carbon emission thing, that’s just B.S.
It’s just more profit to not include it.
Agreed. Just put a voucher in the box for a free charger, which could also serve instead to be a discount on a fast charger. No significant weight nor size added to the smaller box and will serve to nip cases like Brazil’s in the bud.
If one wants to buy an iPhone with no charger in the box, that’s their decision. Clearly an abuse of power.
Follow up comment on “it’s all about profit”…
Just upgraded to the latest 4K Apple TV (with the new remote)… and no charging cable! Would be fine if it used an iPhone cable like the previous. But no, I have to go out and buy a USB-C cable to be able to charge my remote.
Apple is getting pretty stingy with more and more items left out of the box.
It’s all about profit.
If a country makes demands on a specific Apple product that are unreasonable in Apple’s opinion, stop offering the product in that market. The people of Brazil, or whichever nation that want the latest products will demand that the government back off and the issue will quickly resolve.