Apple iPhone 12 banned in France! Here is why
France's radiation watchdog has banned sales of Apple iPhone 12 after tests that it said showed the smartphone breached European radiation exposure limits. The Agence Nationale des Frequences (ANFR) said on Tuesday the model's Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) - a measure of the rate of radiofrequency energy absorbed by the body from a piece of equipment - was higher than legally allowed.
Jean-Noel Barrot, France's junior minister for the digital economy, told newspaper Le Parisien a software update could fix the problem. If Apple does not resolve the issue, the ANFR said it would order a recall of the device across France.
Apple disputes the watchdog's conclusions, saying the iPhone 12 was certified by multiple international bodies as compliant with global radiation standards.
"Standard Absorption Rate" refers to the dose of energy that the body absorbs from any source of radiation. It is expressed as watts per kilogram of body weight.
The radiation from mobile phones is a result of the way they work, by transmitting radiofrequency waves, creating electromagnetic fields. Unlike the radiation from X-rays or gamma rays – caused by radioactive decay – phones cannot break chemical bonds or cause changes to cells in the human body, a process which can ultimately cause harm like cancer.
The ANFR said it recently carried out random tests on 141 phones, including iPhone 12, bought from shops. In independent laboratory tests, two iPhone 12s did not comply with EU standards, the office of the Digital Minister told Reuters.
Smartphone radiation tests have so far led to 42 imposed sale stops in the country, it said.
The main issue caused by a phone's "non-ionizing" type of radiation is the heating up of body tissue. Above set limits, and
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