The Cupertino company gives in. Friday September 15, Apple and the French Minister for Digital announced an update of the iPhone 12 to comply with European standards on the level of wave emission. A decision which comes a few days after the suspension of the marketing of the phone on the French market.
“After discussions and as requested [Tuesday, Editor’s note] by the ANFR [the National Frequency Agency], the manufacturer Apple assured me that it would implement an update on the iPhone 12 in the coming days “, indicated Jean-Noël Barrot in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse.
“We will release a software update for French users to reflect the protocol used by French regulatory authorities,” an Apple spokesperson emphasized in a separate statement. “We look forward to iPhone 12 continuing to be available in France,” he added.
Marketed since the end of 2020, the iPhone 12 was at the end of its career when the ANFR declared a temporary withdrawal from the French market on Tuesday, due to too high a level of wave emission. Concretely, the iPhone 12 exceeds by 1.74 watts 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 in the hand (called limb SAR).
In many similar cases, manufacturers update their device before reaching retirement. This was not the case for Apple, faced with this procedure for the first time. The manufacturer had two weeks to propose corrective measures.
Apple contested the agency’s conclusions on Tuesday, ensuring that the iPhone 12 complied with standards set around the world. He now points the finger at “the specific testing protocol used by French regulators” and denies “any security problem”.
According to the ANFR, “the non-compliance detected did not justify an immediate recall.” The World Health Organization (WHO) believes, for its part, that “there is currently no indication that exposure to low-intensity electromagnetic fields is dangerous for human health.”