A Brazilian court ruled that Apple must pay $1000 in compensation to an iPhone user after he received his new phone without a charger in the box. According to Tecmundo, the court decision deemed it illegal for Apple to sell an iPhone without a charger in the packaging, in accordance with Article 39 of the Consumer Protection Code.
It is noted that Apple began implementing its new policy of not including a charger in iPhone boxes starting with the iPhone 12 launch in 2020, aiming to reduce electronic waste. Apple asserted that this decision would have a positive environmental impact, comparable to removing 450,000 cars from the streets worldwide. Last year, Brazil imposed a $2 million fine on Apple for selling iPhones without chargers in São Paulo.
Fernando Capiz, head of the Procon-SP consumer protection foundation, praised the court's decision, stating that chargers are an integral part of the smartphone usage experience. Apple responded to the penalty by saying that most users already have iPhone chargers at home, making the inclusion of a new charger unnecessary and environmentally harmful. Furthermore, removing the charger from the box significantly reduces its size and consequently the materials used in its production.
Many tech companies have followed Apple's lead in eliminating chargers from new phone boxes, including Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, and Google.
**Advanced Charging**
In efforts to eliminate cables and fully develop the smartphone charging experience, tech companies are making significant strides in expanding alternatives to traditional wired charging, such as wireless charging using charging docks, as well as air charging technologies which are still in their early experimental phases.
Like any new technology, the wireless air charging technology has undergone various initial research experiments, the most significant of which was presented by researchers from Disney, introducing a new technique called "Quasistatic Cavity Resonance," which relies on a square aluminum structure. In the center of this giant aluminum cube, there is a copper cylinder with a small opening that holds some separate capacitors.
The main idea behind this technique is to utilize electromagnetic waves and convert them into electrical waves. The source of the magnetic waves is located outside the aluminum cube, emitting waves at a frequency of 1.32 megahertz, which is then amplified through a power amplifier. The amplified waves pass through the aluminum walls, allowing the connected coil to receive the waves and transfer them to the capacitors, which subsequently retransmit these waves throughout the room, where they can be captured by connecting wires within the surrounding electronics of the copper cylinder.
Currently, companies like Lenovo, Xiaomi, and Motorola are working on developing various methods for charging phones wirelessly.
