Apple must pay a man more than $1,000 for not including a power adapter with his new iPhone, judge rules

• A judge ordered Apple to pay the man $1,000 for failing to include a power adapter with his iPhone purchase.

• He ruled out that the company makes customers buy two of its products until one of them is fully functional.

• Apple said the provided cable can be used with non-Apple adapters, which the judge rejected.

A Brazilian judge has ordered Apple to pay 5,000 Brazilian reais, or $1,081 US, to a consumer for not including a power adapter with the sale of his new iPhone.

Judge Vanderlei Caires Pinheiro of a civil court in Goiânia ruled the practice as “tie selling,” which refers to when a company requires a customer to buy two of its products so that one of them works, according to Court documents reviewed by the insider.

The judge said Apple had “obligated the consumer to purchase a second product of its exclusive manufacture,” calling it an “abusive and illegal business practice.”

In its defense, Apple said every iPhone comes with a USB-C to Lightning cable, which lets consumers charge their phones using power adapters they can buy from other companies, according to court documents.

But the judge dismissed the argument, saying the cable didn’t work with wall adapters that don’t have a USB-C port, which Apple’s charger was specifically designed for.

He also noted that Apple said it had stopped supplying the power adapter due to concerns about the environment and because the accessory was in short supply. Pinheiro responded by saying that Apple still makes its own power adapters and sells them separately.

“It is not appropriate for such a measure to seek to reduce environmental impacts, because, in all evidence, the defendant continues to manufacture such an essential supplement, but is now selling it separately,” Pinheiro said.

Apple first announced that it will stop offering Power adapters with iPhone 12 in 2020which the Brazilian government said it found offensive. In 2021, it fined Apple $2 million for the practice, saying the tech giant had failed to show its “environmental gains”, According to Brazilian director G1.

Apple did not immediately respond to an Insider’s request for comment.

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