After threatening to recall
Apple updates iPhone 12 in France
With the iPhone 12, the limit for direct physical contact – for example in the hand or in the pocket – is said to have been exceeded. photo
© Zacharie Scheurer/dpa
Apple is giving in: the company is adapting the software to avert a sales stop. According to Apple, the limit values were actually met – but France’s test method was followed.
The update should take the testing method into account and was not triggered by security concerns, Apple said. It is internationally recognized that the iPhone 12 meets all limit values.
The French authority Agence Nationale des Frequences (ANFR) ordered on Tuesday that devices of the three-year-old model must be removed from sales channels. If Apple does not correct the values “as quickly as possible” with an update, the devices in circulation in France would also have to be recalled, it said.
Limit values exceeded
The ANFR had 141 telephones examined in a laboratory to determine how much electromagnetic radiation the body absorbed during their operation. It was found that the limit for direct physical contact – for example in the hand or in the pocket – was exceeded with the iPhone 12. Instead of the maximum permitted 4 watts per kilogram, it was 5.74 watts per kilogram.
However, the iPhone 12 complied with the limit of two watts per kilogram for radiation levels at a distance of five millimeters from the body, wrote the ANFR. It applies to situations in which a phone is carried in a jacket or bag, for example.
Situation in Germany
In Germany, the Federal Network Agency is responsible for the issue. A spokesman for the Bonn authority said on Friday that the procedure in France had a guiding function for Europe as a whole. They are in contact with the French authorities for a Europe-wide solution and are also in contact with Apple. “The Federal Network Agency currently has no information that the device poses an immediate danger,” said the spokesman for the German supervisory authority.