Aussie Court Fines Samsung $9.8-M For Misleading Smartphone Buyers

Samsung has been penalized by Australia for misleading consumers about the water resistance of its Galaxy smartphones, Anam Hamid reported for PhoneArena.

Photo Insert: The company is said to have made false claims about the water resistance of seven Galaxy phones.

Australian Federal Court Justice Brendan Murphy has ordered Samsung Electronics Australia to pay 14 million Australian dollars ($9.8 million) within 30 days and an additional AU$200,000 ($140,000) for the cost incurred by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which started the investigation four years back.

Samsung is not fighting the claim and has agreed to pay the fine. The company is said to have made false claims about the water resistance of seven Galaxy phones in nine advertisements between 2016 and 2018, including the S7, S7 Edge, A5 (2017), A7 (2017), S8, S8 Plus, and Note 8, reports ABC News.

The ads had said that the phones could be used in swimming pools and seawater, but in reality they were not that water resistant, and charging them while still wet could have damaged the charging ports.

About 3.1 million units of the vulnerable smartphones were sold in Australia, including some that were the best phones at that time, but it's not clear how many customers had their charging ports damaged.

Commission Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said that her team had received hundreds of complaints from disgruntled owners. In some cases, the phones stopped working altogether.

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