Samsung fined $14 million for misleading smartphone water resistance claims
- Reference: 1655963936
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/06/23/australia_samsung_water_resistance_fine/
- Source link:
The Commission (ACCC) says that between 2016 and 2018 Samsung advertised its Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, A5, A7, S8, S8 Plus and Note 8 smartphones as capable of surviving short submersions in the sea or fresh water.
As it happens The Register attended the Australian launch of the Note 8 and [1]watched on in wonder as it survived a brief dunking and bubbles appeared to emerge from within the device. Your correspondent recalls Samsung claiming that the waterproofing reflected the aim of designing a phone that could handle Australia's outdoors lifestyle.
[2]
But the ACCC has labelled ads extolling water resistance as a feature of the phones misleading.
[3]
"We reviewed hundreds of complaints from consumers who reported they experienced issues with their Galaxy phones after they were exposed to water and, in many cases, they reported their Galaxy phone stopped working entirely," said ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb.
The problem was not that the phones leaked. Rather, Samsung did not advise that if the phones were charged after a dunking, there was a "material prospect" the charging port would become corroded and stop working.
[4]Samsung accused of cheating on hardware benchmarks ... again
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[6]Biden tours Samsung fab, talks chip cooperation with South Korea
"Prior to the launch of the Galaxy phones, Samsung Australia's parent company, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., was already seeking to mitigate the effects of this charging port corrosion caused by charging following exposure to water" according to an ACCC [7]statement . "Despite this, Samsung Australia's marketing campaign promoted Galaxy phones being used in pools and sea water while there remained a material prospect the Galaxy phones would be damaged due to corrosion."
The ACCC's statement points out that the fines it is permitted to levy have increased considerably since the time of Samsung's misconduct, so the company could have faced a much higher bill for its misleading ads. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2017/09/19/galaxy_note_8_first_look_hands_on/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YrQ5xifHJyFGlNB3qjLcggAAAJE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YrQ5xifHJyFGlNB3qjLcggAAAJE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/15/samsung_tv_benchmark/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/25/red_hat_samsung_memory_collaboration/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/20/biden_samsung_tour/
[7] https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/samsung-australia-to-pay-14m-penalty-for-misleading-water-resistance-claims
[8] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: I propose a new law
You're gonna put millions of grifters/marketing people out of work. A few of them will become technical writers I suppose, but the majority of them are incorrigible.
Re: I propose a new law
You say that as though it is a bad thing
Re: I propose a new law
"Moisture exposure turns a dot red and voids the warranty? It's not waterproof. A little bump breaks the glass and it's not covered? It's not a durable phone. 5G not guaranteed to work? It's not a 5G phone."
Define 'moisture', 'exposure', 'red', 'waterproof', 'bump', 'break', 'durability', '5G' and 'coverage'.
Not defending Samsung here because I f*ing hate them with a passion, but if manufacturers weren't allowed to make "within reasonable expectations" claims in their marketing material, then we could expect that the terms and conditions of warranty would need to be delivered by a forklift as EVERY single possible convolution of every single term would need to be legally defined. Which would put the price of a phone up into the tens of thousands, just to pay the lawyers.
Re: I propose a new law
These moisture indicators turn red when phone is used in a humid environment, so they are pretty useless. More like a vehicle to weasel out of responsibilities.
Re: I propose a new law
"These moisture indicators turn red when phone is used in a humid environment, so they are pretty useless."
The inside of most modern phones is a sealed space and not impacted by external humidity in any meaningful way. Using the phone in a humid environment will not change them.
Experience
I remember taking my S9 for a swim in Caribbean. Phone stopped working until it completely dried the next day.
Phone didn't dissolve in the water, so it was waterproof to an extent - I can give credit for that.
Sagsmug doing Sagsmug things.
Used to have a Note 8
Used to have a Note 8 which joined me in swimming pools (didn't bring it in deep, maybe 1m depth while I was swimming / floating on the surface) and waterfalls (with water pelting you feeling like a brick, was surprised the phone handled it well, taking pics and videos while in the falls itself). I recall that the touch screen did not work well when it was wet / in the water, but was all good after dried.
Was tempted by the beach but decided not to risk it.
Worked fine after pools and waterfalls without issues. Did not notice any corrosion either.
If you tried to charge while the USB port was wet, I recall there was an error and you had to wait till it gets fully dry.
I propose a new law
Anything not covered by warranty doesn't exist. Advertisements and specification sheets for electronics will get a lot shorter.
Moisture exposure turns a dot red and voids the warranty? It's not waterproof. A little bump breaks the glass and it's not covered? It's not a durable phone. 5G not guaranteed to work? It's not a 5G phone.