[AlphaWeaver]

Yep, SAR stands for "specific absorption rate". These sensors are typically used to change how the antennas on the phone transmit (like how much power they use) by detecting whether the phone is held close to your body vs. sitting somewhere like on a table.

Most phones have them.

[qwertox]

Like the coulometer they mention. This is a battery discharge sensor, nobody would mention this in the specs. SAR sensor and coulometer are standard by now.

[danpalmer]

Which leads to a conclusion, either the makers don't know enough to know it's standard (which suggests they aren't well informed enough to make a modern smartphone), or they do know but decided to include it to pad their spec sheet (which suggests disingenuous marketing).

[lucb1e]

> by detecting whether the phone is held close to your body vs. sitting somewhere like on a table

Wow, so it basically measures the material that it's near to! That's cool. I know that microwaves are well-adsorbed by water (such as in bodies), is that how this works, does it piggyback on the 2.4 GHz antenna? Can I read this sensor's output via some Android API or a device file (with root perhaps)?