Australia’s competition regulator said on Thursday a court ordered the local unit of Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) to pay a A$14 million ($9.65 million) penalty for nine misleading advertisements about a water-resistance feature in some of its smartphones.
Samsung Australia admitted to misleading buyers of some of its ‘Galaxy’ phones about the water-resistance level-Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC). The regulator had first sued the company in July 2019.
Samsung Australia said in a statement that this was not an issue in its newer, current models.
The regulator said between March 2016 and October 2018, the company ran in-store and social media advertisements. They claim the phones could be use in pools or sea water.
The ACCC received a large number of complaints from users claiming that the cellphones did not work properly. Or even cease working entirely after being expose to water.
The claims “promoted an important selling point for these Galaxy phones.
Samsung and the ACCC agreed that changes the company had made to newer models of the smartphones launched in Australia from March 2018 did not face such risks from water exposure, the company said.
-Reuters.
