Apple has been fined $19 million for selling iPhones without chargers

A court in Brazil has slapped Apple with a massive fine of $R100 million (USD$19 million, AUD$30.1 million, £10.5 million) after it ruled that the tech company must sell chargers with new iPhones sold in the South American company.

The state court in Sao Paulo slammed Apple for its tactics against Brazilian customers in a lawsuit that claimed the tech giant behaves in an abusive manner to consumers by selling their product without an essential accessory.

That accessory was the phone's charger, Reuters reports.

Brazilian customers were trotting down to their local Apple store and unboxing their new whiz-bang phones to find out that they needed to fork out more to use their device,

Vladimir Razguliaev / Alamy

Apple told Reuters that it will appeal the decision and the fine handed down against the company.

Apple argued that they were reducing carbon emissions by not including the chargers within the new phone kits.

The Sao Paulo court hit out at that claim, ruling that, as per Reuters: "It is evident that, under the justification of a 'green initiative,' the defendant imposes on the consumer a required purchase of charger adaptors that were previously supplied along with the product."

This is the latest legal woes for Apple in an ongoing Brazilian court drama.

Back in September, Brazil's Ministry of Justice banned the sale of iPhones in the country until Apple committed to putting chargers back in the boxes.

The department issued the order on September 6 alongside a fine for the tech company, which has sold smartphones without a charger since the release of the iPhone 12.

ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy

It comes as Apple was gearing up to launch the iPhone 14, but the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP) argued that selling the phones without charges equates to selling an 'incomplete product'.

The MJSP then followed through by banning sales of the new phones in the South American nation.

In a release shared on its website, the MJSP explained: "The sale of iPhone cell phones unaccompanied by battery chargers has been suspended throughout the national territory.

"The Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP) also imposed a fine on the manufacturer Apple Computer Brazil in the amount of R$12.2 million ($USD2.3 million, $AUD3.6 million, £1.9 million) and ordered the cancellation of the registration with Anatel of the brand's smartphones from the iPhone12 model."