Apple asked to pay the man $1,000 for not selling an iPhone charger

• A judge ordered Apple to pay the man $1,000 for not including a power adapter with his iPhone.
• El-Kady said 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, to a man 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 of “tie selling,” or a situation in which a company requires a customer to buy two of its products in order for one to work, according to Court documents viewed 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 that every iPhone comes with a file

USB-C . port

to the Lightning cable, which allows consumers to 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 lack the USB-C port, which Apple’s charger was designed with.

He also noted that Apple said it had stopped providing the power adapter due to environmental concerns and a lack of supply for the accessory. Pinheiro responded by saying that Apple still manufactures and sells power adapters 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 a request for comment from Insider.