The iPhone 12, released in 2020, can no longer be marketed in France because it exceeds the limits for electromagnetic waves emitted and absorbed by the human body, according to the national frequency authority (ANFR).
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The iPhone 12, Apple’s mobile phone released in 2020, can no longer be marketed in France due to exceeding the limits of electromagnetic waves emitted and absorbed by the human body, according to the national frequency authority (ANFR).
The authority also calls on Apple to “take all available means to quickly resolve this malfunction” for units already sold, otherwise the device will have to be recalled, according to a press release sent to AFP on Tuesday evening.
“I trust the company’s sense of responsibility to comply with our rules. My mission is to earn them respect. If this is not the case, I am ready to order the recall of the iPhone 12 in circulation,” said French Digital Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot in an interview with Le Parisien.
He specified that “a simple software update is required” for the smartphone to be compliant. Apple has 15 days to comply.
Specifically, the iPhone 12 exceeds the legal limit by 1.74 W per kilogram (W/kg), which corresponds to the energy that the human body can absorb when the phone is held in the hand.
The ANFR regularly reduces the transmission power of smartphones. Most often, after a formal notification, manufacturers plan to update their devices in order to prevent them from being withdrawn from the market. But this is a first for Apple.
According to Jean-Noël Barrot, the withdrawal request could even be extended to the European market.
Contacted by AFP, Apple could not immediately respond. The Californian giant presented on Tuesday evening its new device, the iPhone 15, which will integrate a universal USB-C charging port to comply with European regulations.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “there is currently no evidence that exposure to low-intensity electromagnetic fields is dangerous to human health,” “despite extensive research.”
Apple plans to challenge the agency’s findings, saying independent third-party study results would prove its devices meet the standards. This is a first for the American giant.