According to reports in Brazilian blogs, the branch of the Consumer Protection Council in the country’s capital, Brasilia, raided stores of the chains Claro, Vivo (no relation to the smartphone manufacturer of the same name), Fast shop and iPlaces, and confiscated all iPhone models from 11 to 14 – that is, all the iPhones that are still sold. This is as part of a special operation called “Operation Grounding” – a name that is apparently intended to mock Apple for the fact that, according to the Brazilian authorities, it is violating the law by forcing iPhone buyers to purchase chargers separately, because otherwise the batteries of the devices will be in a state of grounding, without any charging capability.
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The operation, which began about two weeks ago, is the culmination of a dispute between Brazil and Apple that began when the Ministry of Justice demanded from the company last September to stop selling iPhones without chargers in the country. The ministry claimed that the removal of the electrical connection from the packaging with the launch of the iPhone 12, which was later applied retroactively to the iPhone 11, which received updated packaging without an adapter, forces consumers to purchase an additional device as a condition for using the iPhone for which they have already paid full price, which violates the regulation on the prohibition of ‘tied sales’ (Selling an item whose use is impossible unless you buy another item).