Brazil said on Tuesday it is banning the sales of iPhones that don’t ship with a charging brick. This decision comes two years after Apple stopped including charging bricks and earphones in the iPhone retail boxes to make them smaller and to reduce the carbon footprint.
An order published by the Brazilian Ministry of Justice and Public Security also noted that the company is being fined $2.34 million (BR$ 12.275 million). The order said that the environmental reasons provided were not enough and it shifted the burden on the consumer to obtain a charger. It opined that the company could take other steps, like switching to USB-C from the lightning port for charging the iPhone.
Earlier this year, the country’s telecom regulator said it is considering making USB-C the default port for all smartphones.
This is not the first time the company has received a notice of fines from a Brazilian agency. Over the last few years, different regional watchdogs have issued monetary fines to Apple.
In response, the company told Reuters it’s working with local consumer protection agency SENACON to conciliate their concerns.
“We have already won several court rulings in Brazil on this matter and we are confident that our customers are aware of the various options for charging and connecting their device,” an Apple spokesperson told the publication.
The tech giant told Bloomberg that by removing chargers from the retail box the company has been able to cut carbon emissions equivalent to taking 500,000 cars off the road.
The whole saga has unfolded just hours before Apple is set to launch its new iPhone 14 at its “Far Out” event in Cupertino.