A court in Australia has ordered the local unit of Samsung Electronics to pay a penalty of A$14 million ($9.65 million), according to the country’s competition regulator.
The court found that Samsung’s claims about a water-resistance feature in some of its smartphones were false and misleading.
According to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), Samsung Australia has admitted to misleading buyers of some of its ‘Galaxy’ phones about the water-resistance level.
Between March 2016 and October 2018, Samsung ran in-store and social media advertisements that claimed the phones could be used in pools or sea water.
The ACCC, however, received hundreds of complaints from users saying the smartphones did not function properly or even stopped working entirely after being exposed to water.
