French regulators order Apple to halt sales of the iPhone 12

[jmaker]

When I was looking for a new smartphone a few years ago I stumbled across the SAR figures and the data set published by the German agency responsible for it.[^1] It was important to recognize that some older Xiaomi phones had higher figures than iPhones listed there. But more recent Xiaomis are even under 0.5, which grants them the “Blue Angel” designation by that agency. You can also download the CSV output. According to this data set, iPhones 12 aren’t much different from the other series. Perhaps different batches in France from different production locations?

[^1]: https://www.bfs.de/SiteGlobals/Forms/Suche/BfS/EN/SARsuche_F...

[NavinF]

> testing found that the model emits more electromagnetic waves susceptible to be absorbed by the body than permitted

SMH, they're talking about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-ionizing_radiation

Next they'll issue an order to halt sunrise and the subsequent 1000W/m^2 of electromagnetic radiation

[PetitPrince]

> Next they'll issue an order to halt sunrise and the subsequent 1000W/m^2 of electromagnetic radiation

It's not halting sunrise but there's a directive[1] that basically says (amongst other) "don't work under the sun without protection".

[1] Amended proposal for a Council Directive on the minimum Health and Safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents — Individual Directive in relation to Article 16 of Directive 89/391/EEC (Text with EEA relevance) (OJ C, C/230, 19.08.1994, p. 3, )

[yanellena]

The phone doesn't meet the regulations which means it can't be sold. Whether they're good regulations or not is another matter.

[sebstefan]

The sun has ionizing radiations, this doesn't

Weird that we're regulating for 4W/kg of non-ionizing radiations

[eecc]

bad take, different frequencies have different absorptions and biological effects...

[archerx]

A microwave oven has produces non-ionizing radiation, would you put your hand inside one while it's on? It's non-ionizing so it should be 100% safe right?

[janandonly]

How nice of them to wait until now, so Apple could simply retract this phone because it's of yesterday, an older model.

[hoppyhoppy2]

Dupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37492752

[throwfaraway398]

I don't get the lag. They first started measure in 2021 for the iphone 12. Did it take 2 years to check the result ? Is it from a new test ?

https://data.anfr.fr/anfr/visualisation/table/?id=ad8014ec-f...

[nraynaud]

I guess there are a lot of check and balances before banning a very popular product from a big company.

[chasd00]

Posting from an iphone12 mini which I think is the perfect form factor. It’s a shame they won’t sell it.

[canes123456]

Agreed. I have a 13 mini personal and a normal 12 as my work phone. I hate the regular size so much.

[helsinkiandrew]

Apples no longer sells the iPhone 12 (disappeared from their website a few days ago) but what phone technology is the iPhone SE now?

[the_gipsy]

I have an iPhone SE that's (apparently) 2nd generation 2020 - same year as iPhone 12.

I'm a bit worried now.

[Forgotthepass8]

Medical limits are 4W/kg, I'm amazed they're this far off.

[_fizz_buzz_]

FCC seems to limit at 1.6W/kg. https://www.fcc.gov/general/specific-absorption-rate-sar-cel...

How is this measured exactly?

[jmaker]

The German agency responsible for this states it’s 2 W/kg, see https://www.bfs.de/EN/topics/emf/mobile-communication/protec...

[Aissen]

The press release from the agency, in english: https://www.anfr.fr/fileadmin/user_upload/CP_iPhone_12_-_EN....

Edit: same, in hmtl: https://www.anfr.fr/liste-actualites/actualite/temporary-wit...

[the_gipsy]

How can I tell what iPhone I have? Mine just says "SE" and ios 16.x.

[greenpresident]

Settings > General > About.

Tap model number, copy, search it online.

[hypefi]

the tip of the iceberg