Remember the iPhone 12 radiation limit story out of France? We thought it was concluded, but Apple just dropped a bit of knowledge about exactly how it satisfied regulators in the country.
Top comment by Christo
This new French test is significantly more stupid than I assumed. Here we have a make-believe risk from radio waves entering the head. No one has ever produced any evidence for any danger; but as a precaution there is a limit for the radio power that is allowed to be absorbed by the human body. the iPhone's sensors can tell when it is not next to a human body and can increase the power slightly for better performance, when they can not affect the human body. Remember that when your phone is next to your head around half the total power is directed to the head, but when you move it away a little the power received by the head falls off dramatically. The French regulator requires that the limit for being next to the head is also applied when nowhere near the human body. This is like limiting a car to 20mph on a race track because there is a school 10 miles away.
To recap:
- French authorities determined that the iPhone 12 no longer passed radiation exposure testing limits on the day Apple discontinued the iPhone 12 and unveiled the iPhone 15
- Apple downplayed the issue while acknowledging it would work with regulators to remedy the situation
- Apple submitted a software update for French regulators to evaluate as a fix for the issue
- France approved the fix and dropped its threat of recalling all iPhone 12 units sold in the country
Now Apple has published a full rundown on exactly what was going on with the France radiation limit situation. Apple says the approved software fix will be included in iOS 17.1 when it becomes available. iOS 17.1 is currently in the developer and public beta testing phase.
Here’s a summary provided by Apple:
iOS 17.1 includes an update for iPhone 12 for users in France to accommodate this specific test protocol that requires reduced power when off-body on a static surface.
iPhone 12 will no longer increase the allowed power when the off-body state is detected, such as while it is sitting on a table. As such, in coverage areas where cellular signal is low, this change in antenna transmit power may result in slightly lower cellular performance in certain off-body use cases. The vast majority of users are not expected to notice any impact.
See the full explanation from Apple here.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments