We would be tempted to quarantine it in a drawer, even if sometimes there is our whole life in it. The iPhone 12 has been raising concerns since it became known that it exceeds the European regulatory threshold for electromagnetic wave emissions. The information was revealed on Tuesday September 12 by the Minister of Digital Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, in an interview with Le Parisien.
Apple is forced to withdraw it from the French market as of September 12 and the minister said he was “ready to order the recall” of phones already sold. In the meantime, Jean-Noël Barrot is categorical: owners of an iPhone 12 “can continue to use it,” he said Wednesday morning on France Info.
However, measurements carried out by accredited laboratories at the request of the National Frequency Agency (ANFR) revealed a “member” specific absorption rate (SAR) value exceeding the limit, i.e. 5.74 watts per kilogram ( W/kg). This is what motivated the French minister’s decision.
This SAR value makes it possible to quantify the energy carried by the electromagnetic waves emitted by the phone and absorbed by the human body. Two measurements are made: one in contact with the body, the “limb” SAR, and one at a distance of 5 millimeters from the body, the “trunk” SAR. For the smartphone to be regulatory, they must respect the limit values ??of 4 W/kg for the “limb” and 2 W/kg for the “trunk”. For the iPhone 12, the “trunk” SAR values ??are consistent.
The problem would not come from the phone but “probably from a software update” carried out after the smartphone was put on the market in 2020 in France, explained Jean-Noël Barrot. A new update could therefore be enough to bring emissions levels back to regulatory levels.
Contacted by Le Parisien, Apple clarified that the iPhone 12 had been certified as compliant by numerous international authorities.
