Italia’s national competition authority has fined Apple $12 million (about Sh1.3 billion) for making false claims that its iPhone mobile devices were water-resistant.

In a statement, the Autorita Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato accused Apple of aggressively marketing several of its iPhones as water-resistant for years without clarifying that it was only applicable under certain circumstances.

The authority said some iPhone models failed to prove they were water-resistant for 30 minutes at a depth of up to 4 meters depending on the model as had been advertised by Apple.

It said the allegations by the top mobile phone manufacturer only applied in lab-controlled tests with pure water and not in conditions in the real world.

The authority said the claim by Apple span several generations of its phones, including iPhone 8 and iPhone 11 models.

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The Italian competition authority also lambasted Apple for not covering damage caused by water to iPhones which are under warranty terming it "aggressive."

The American tech giant is yet to issue an official statement on the matter but Apple has over the years publicly advised users against swimming and bathing with their iPhones.

Back in 2018, the Italian watchdog fined Apple €5 million (about 672 million) for releasing software updates which ‘significantly reduced’ the performance of previous iPhone models.