After consumers complained about being misled about the resistance of Samsung Galaxy phones to be submerged in pools and seawater, a federal court in Australia fined the brand $14 million.
The claims for which the South Korean giant will have to compensate consumers were made during an advertising campaign between March 2016 and October 2018 through which the tech mogul claimed the resistance of its devices to water.
The devices shown were the Samsung Galaxy S7, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, Samsung Galaxy A5 and Samsung Galaxy A7 of the year 2017, Samsung Galaxy S8, Samsung Galaxy S8+ and Samsung Galaxy Note 8, which were shown in ads on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and on Samsung’s website.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) President Gina Cass-Gottlieb said that affirming the water resistance of the aforementioned equipment led to large sales numbers, placing 3.1 million smartphones in the ocean nation alone.
For its part, Samsung has recognized that the problem referred by users regarding the corrosion of the charging port only occurs if the charge is made if the device is still wet and according to a shared report, this situation was not alien to the company, prior to the launch they were already looking to eradicate the defect.
The process that was initiated in 2019 against Samsung Electronics in Australia was closed with relatively low penalties, all omissions of the company took place prior to the increase in penalties imposed under the Australian Consumer Act.
“There’s an underwater selfie in your future. The new Galaxy S8 has already gone on sale,” says one of the ads that were used by the South Korean brand in Australia and for which they were fined.
DATUM
A few days ago Toshiba, Sony and Samsung were ratified by the General Court of the European Union for collusion in tenders for the acquisition of optical disc drives, so Samsung would add two infringements in Australia in less than 15 days.
