On April 21, Apple once again topped the hot search list, this time not because its new machine was bright, but because it did not have a charger, it was sued by a Brazilian consumer, and finally the court ruled that the consumer was about 6943 yuan.
The local court found Apple guilty of illegal collocation sales in violation of consumer protection laws. Devices such as smartphones must be equipped with chargers or sold separately, but not mandatorily sold separately to allow the device to be fully functional. The charging cable provided by the iPhone cannot be used with other charging plugs, and consumers have to buy Apple products, so Apple is required to compensate 5,000 Brazilian reals, about 6943 yuan.
As soon as the incident came out, it immediately triggered a hot discussion among domestic netizens, "no charger, like eating without chopsticks, buying expensive ones alone to die, it is really discouraged", "low emotional intelligence: compressed cost, high emotional intelligence: for environmental protection", "before buying mobile phones with chargers, headphones, but also send small gifts", "do not send is not to buy themselves, where is the meaning of environmental protection, in addition to making Apple make two money.".
In fact, Apple did make a lot of money out of it.
In March, the Daily Mail reported that more than 190 million iPhones had been sold worldwide since Apple removed the headphones and chargers in October 2020. Then, Apple not only saves a lot of headphones and chargers, but also saves some transportation costs, coupled with the additional accessory sales generated, a total of 6.5 billion US dollars, that is, 42 billion yuan in profits. This topic also rushed to the top of the hot search at that time.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, that is, Apple's first fiscal quarter of this year, achieved revenue of 774.6 billion yuan, an increase of 11.2% year-on-year, and net profit of 216.4 billion yuan, an increase of 20%, exceeding the revenue growth rate. As of the latest close, Apple reported $167.23, with a total market capitalization of $2.73 trillion, about 17.6 trillion yuan, even more than the sum of the top ten A stock market values.
In addition, Apple's defeat this time is of reference significance for domestic consumers?
Li Yongsheng, a partner at Beijing Bingcheng Law Firm, told the city, "Apple's behavior should be suspected of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law and the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law, etc., and there are also clear similar provisions in the Draft Regulations for the Implementation of the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law, which is still in the process of drafting." However, China's legal consequences of such acts may be more reflected in the level of administrative punishment, and the relief of civil compensation is relatively weak, and even if compensation is given, the amount is generally not too large, and it is difficult to compare with foreign countries. ”
(Author 丨Shijie Feng Chenchen Editor 丨Liao Ying)