The iPhone 12 enjoyed some unexpected time in the spotlight, some three years after launch, when French authorities suddenly announced that it was found to have exceeded legal radiation exposure limits. There was talk of having the model withdrawn from sale.
The drama now looks set to end, as Apple has delivered a promised software update to resolve the issue, and the French government is now testing it …
French iPhone 12 drama
The controversy coincided with the announcement of the iPhone 15.
As Apple was unveiling the iPhone 15 yesterday, parties in the EU were working to have the iPhone 12 banned. French watchdog group Agence Nationale des Fréquences (ANFR) claimed the three-year-old phone exceeds legal radiation exposure limits.
While “radiation” is a frightening-sounding term, what the ANFR actually means is radio-frequency radiation, which is a rather different thing.
Mobile radio waves emanating from smartphones can cause localized heating of human tissue. The World Health Organization says there is zero evidence that this poses any health risk, but in an abundance of caution, the amount of RF energy that can pass into smartphone users is limited by law.
The iPhone 12 passed RF radiation tests when it launched, and it’s unclear why it would suddenly fail those tests some three years later.
Apple software update
Apple said that there wasn’t an issue, and the results were simply an artefact of the particular testing method employed in France. It said that it could easily resolve this with a software update for the iPhone 12.
Reuters reports that Apple has now submitted this update to the ANFR, so that the tests can be conducted again.
French authorities have received a software update from Apple for its iPhone 12 and are reviewing it, a source at the French digital ministry told Reuters on Tuesday, as the U.S. tech giant sought to avoid any risk of a costly recall.
9to5Mac’s Take
This is all a storm in a teacup. Countless studies have been conducted into the heating effect of RF radiation from smartphones on human tissue, and no evidence has been found of any health risks. The existing legal limits are just erring on the side of caution to reflect a purely theoretical risk.
If the iPhone 12 had exceeded the legal limits in France or anywhere else, this should of course have been detected at the time. France apparently uses a different testing regime to other countries, and something in the latest version of these tests has thrown up the odd result.
Apple always expressed confidence that it could resolve the matter with a software update, and it’s extremely likely that rerunning the tests will confirm this.
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