Apple Fined Rp.169 Billion For Waterproof IPhone Claims

JAKARTA - Apple has been fined by the Italian market competition supervisory agency, Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), for 10 million euros or IDR169 billion. Due to misguided claims regarding a waterproof iPhone.

Launching from the Financial Times page, Tuesday, December 1, the fine was given after the claim from the company from Cupertino, USA was not clearly proven. Where the iPhone 8 to iPhone 11 Pro Max models can be water resistant to a depth of four meters for 30 minutes.

In a press release, AGCM criticized Apple for not providing sufficiently clear evidence of its water resistance claims. Even from the test results, the iPhone's durability only applies in certain circumstances such as controlled lab tests with pure water.

"According to the Authority, the message does not clarify that this claim is true only if there are certain conditions, for example during special and controlled laboratory tests with the use of static and pure water, and not under normal consumer use of the device," said AGCM.

Italian regulators have also criticized Apple's disclaimer, saying water damage is not covered as part of the iPhone's warranty. In fact, they made waterproof claims their marketing narrative.

"Antitrust also considers it appropriate to take into account Apple's refusal, in the post-sales phase, to honor warranties when the iPhone model is damaged by water or other liquids, thereby depriving consumers of the rights they should expect from the warranty or Consumer Code," he wrote.

So far, Apple has not provided an official response to the decision. The company made by Steve Jobs also has 60 days to appeal the AGCM sentence.

It is known that this is not the first time Apple has been sanctioned to pay fines this year. In mid-November, Apple also paid a fine of 113 million US dollars or Rp1.6 trillion for allegedly slowing down the performance of older iPhones via iOS updates.

Prior to that, the French regulator also fined Apple for 27 million US dollars, equivalent to Rp382 billion, in April. The regulator argued that companies should be more open about their business practices.