France bans iPhone 12 over radiation concerns, Apple fights back

Apple has refuted claims made by France’s radiation watchdog (ANFR) that the iPhone 12 breaches radiation exposure limits. Apple said, in a statement, that the iPhone 12 has been certified by several international regulators as compliant. The French move raised the prospect of further bans in Europe. Germany’s network regulator BNetzA said it might launch similar proceedings and was in close contact with French authorities, while Spain’s OCU consumers’ group urged authorities there to halt the sales of the iPhone 12.

The tech giant, which just launched the iPhone 15 series, said it has independent third-party lab results that show that it complies with all Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) standards globally. Apple also said that it had provided several Apple and third-party lab results proving the phone’s compliance to the French agency and that it was contesting its findings.

Earlier, the ANFR released a public statement saying that the iPhone 12 breaches radiation levels, telling the company to temporarily halt iPhone 12 sales and release a fix. “The French National Frequencies Agency (ANFR) is instructing Apple to withdraw the iPhone 12 from the French market as of September 12, 2023, after the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) limit for this model was exceeded,” the French agency said in a statement. “ANFR enjoins Apple to implement all available means to rapidly remedy this malfunction. Failing this, Apple will be required to recall any units already sold,” it added.

The most common EU SAR limit of 2 W/kg represents an average of over 10 g of tissue absorbing the most signal, reports TechCrunch. This limit is a bit higher than the FCC limit in the U.S. (1.6 W/kg). Apple complies with this SAR limit. However, the ANFR measured an SAR of 5.74 W/kg, which is above the limit of 4 W/kg. France’s junior minister for telecommunications, Jean-Noel Barrot, told Le Parisien that Apple has some time to comply with French regulations before further action.

Apple does not break out its sales by country or model. Its revenues totalled about $95 billion in Europe last year, making the region its second biggest behind the Americas. Some estimates say it sold over 50 million iPhones last year in Europe.

— Agencies