New judicial blow to those of Cupertino, this time in Italy. In the European region, Apple has just been sentenced to pay a fine of 12 million dollars, about 10 million euros for what the state considers to be “unfair commercial practices related to the marketing of the iPhone in the country . “ Again, in the eye of the hurricane, the “vaunted” water resistance of Apple phones.
Specifically, L ‘Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) , translated as guarantee authority for competition and the market, focuses on misleading claims made in promotional messages about the depth and time that iPhones can be immersed in the water without suffering damage, something that has already cost the American firm some other legal litigation, which has been accused on numerous occasions of misleading advertising.
The iPhone and its “special” water resistance
The fault that this Italian establishment has blamed on the misleading advertising company is found in the marketing materials related to the PiPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, PiPhone XS Max, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. According to the company, and the one that appears in the firm’s advertisements, the iPhones were water resistant to a depth of between one and four meters, up to 30 minutes, depending on the model.
However, according to the country’s competition regulator, the messages did not clarify that the claims are only true under specific conditions, for example, during controlled laboratory tests with the use of static and pure water, and not under normal conditions of use. by consumers. Similarly, the courts opposed the terms of Apple’s warranty, which do not cover damage caused by liquids.
That is, it is not the same to wet an iPhone in a controlled setting, than in the pool, the sea or in the bathtub,
The authority found it inappropriate to push for an “aggressive” business practice that highlights water resistance as a feature, while at the same time refusing to offer proper after-sales warranty assistance if the iPhone models in question suffer water damage. In this sense, the brand’s equipment has indicators on the equipment’s hardware that warn if water has entered the device. If it is enabled, Apple policy prohibits repair of the phone under the commercial warranty.
On our site we have already repeated on several occasions that the only way for Apple to repair your phone if it has gotten wet is through an AppleCare + plan with accidental damage coverage.
Source>9to5Mac