By Adedapo Adesanya
Italy’s antitrust regulator, AGCM, on Monday announced that it would fine Apple €10 million for misleading claims about the waterproof qualities of its iPhone products.
The competition authority took issue with advertisements in which latest iPhone models were presented as water resistant for up to 30 minutes at depths ranging from one to four metres.
“Customers were not properly warned that this could happen only during “specific and controlled laboratory tests” and “not under normal conditions of use,” AGCM noted in a statement.
Apple was also fined for its refusal to fix under warranty, liquid-related damage as the Italian watchdog considered it an aggressive business practice.
Apple iPhone models, starting from the iPhone 7 (2016) are advertised to be splash, water and dust resistant and were tested under controlled laboratory conditions.
It, however, warns consumers to avoid “swimming or bathing with your iPhone, exposing your iPhone to pressurised water or high velocity water and intentionally submerging your iPhone in water.”
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 recorded revenues on its sales and services of €58,652,628; and an operating profit of €26,918,658.
This is not the first Apple is slammed with a fine as two years ago, Italy’s competition watchdog also fined Apple and Samsung around $15 million for forcing updates on consumers that may slow or break their devices.
Earlier this year, in February, France fined Apple $27 million for capping the OS performance of iPhones with older batteries.
The company has also faced numerous clamp downs in Europe.
EU lawmakers are continuing to work on pushing for global reform of digital taxation, while some member states push on with their own digital taxes.
The tech giant has 60 days from the date it was notified of the regulator’s intent to fine to appeal the decision.
Modupe Gbadeyanka