While Apple presented its new range of smartphones last night, bad news arrived for the American firm from France. The iPhone 12, the Apple phone released in 2020, can no longer be marketed for the moment in France due to exceeding the limit values on electromagnetic waves emitted and absorbed by the human body, according to the National Agency frequencies (ANFR).
The authority also asks Apple to “implement all available means to quickly remedy this malfunction” on copies already sold, under penalty of having to recall them, it specifies in a press release sent Tuesday evening to the AFP.
“I have confidence in the company’s sense of responsibility to comply with our rules. My mission is to enforce them. If it does not do so, I am ready to order the recall of iPhone 12s in circulation,” declared French Minister for Digital Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot, in an interview with Le Parisien.
He specified that bringing the smartphone into compliance “requires a simple software update”. Apple has 15 days to comply.
Apple assures that the phone is compliant
Concretely, according to the French agency, the iPhone 12 exceeds by 1.74 W per kilogram (W/kg) the regulatory limit value corresponding to the energy that can be absorbed by the human body when the phone is held upright. hand.
Contacted by AFP, Apple assured that the iPhone 12 is certified as compliant with the standards defined around the world by numerous international organizations.
The Californian giant indicated that it had provided the ANFR with the results of independent laboratory studies carried out by third parties to prove that its devices meet the standards. He plans to challenge the agency’s findings.
A first for Apple
ANFR regularly reduces the transmission power of smartphones. Most of the time, following a formal notice, manufacturers plan to update their devices to avoid withdrawal from marketing. But this is a first for Apple. According to Jean-Noël Barrot, the withdrawal request could even be extended to the European market.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “there is currently no indication that exposure to low-intensity electromagnetic fields is dangerous for human health” and this “despite numerous research”.