Apple counters French claims of iPhone 12 radiation limit breach

London: Apple has refuted claims made by France’s radiation watchdog (ANFR) that iPhone 12 breaches radiation exposure limits.

Apple said, in a statement, that iPhone 12 has been certified by several international regulators as compliant.

The tech giant, which just launched iPhone 15 series, said it has independent third-party lab results that show that it complies with all Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) standards globally.

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 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.