Italy’s competition authority on Monday fined the tech giant €10 million for misleading consumers about the water-resistance of its iPhones.
Apple advertised several iPhone models since October 2017, starting with the iPhone 8 through to the iPhone 11, as resistant to water for up to 30 minutes, even a few metres under water, but it didn’t make clear that this is only true under specific conditions (pure water in a laboratory), which are far from real-life ones, the authority found in a decision published on Monday.
The Italian watchdog also sanctioned Apple for being misleading about the scope of its product guarantee, which excludes damages caused by liquids, and for refusing after-sale assistance for that type of damage.
Apple places a liquid contact indicator inside iPhones, which changes from white or silver to red on contact with liquid, and checking the indicator is a standard step undertaken by its repair staff.
The AGCM report cites examples of consumers whose iPhone had taken a “short dive” in the sea being refused cover.
Another complainant had been washing their device under the tap –dwhich Apple deemed improper use.
A third reported that their one-month-old iPhone XR stopped working after coming into contact with water.
Apple told them they must buy a new device, albeit at a subsidised price.
An iPhone XS user, with a one-year-old handset who reported it had never come into contact with water, was refused coverage by Apple support who said it had, complained to the regulator there’s no way for a consumer to prove their device was not immersed in water for more than the length of time and depth to which Apple’s small print specifies it has water resistance.
The tech giant has 60 days from the date it was notified of the regulator’s intent to fine to appeal the decision.
The size of the penalty is well under half of the operating profit the regulator says Apple’s Italian operation made in the year September 2018 to September 2019, when it noted it recorded revenues on its sales and services of €58,652,628 and an operating profit of €26,918,658.
This latest fine comes a little over two years after the Italian regulator fined Apple alongside Samsung for throttling older devices with software updates.
Apple was fined a total of €10 million for a pair of violations, including not giving its customers enough information about their devices’ batteries, as well as throttling the performance of older iPhones without warning.
