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16-09-2023
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA: Apple will update the iPhone 12 in France after regulators raised concerns over electromagnetic radiation emitted by the devices, according to the country’s digital minister and the firm.
The announcement came on Friday, after France on Tuesday ordered a halt to sales of the device, released in 2020, after finding that the model emitted more electromagnetic waves than permitted.
“Apple has assured me that it will implement an update for the iPhone 12 in the next few days,” said Digital Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in a statement to the AFP news agency.
The firm and Barrot insisted there was no danger to public health from the radiation.
“This is related to a specific testing protocol used by French regulators and not a safety concern,” Apple said in a statement, adding that the device complied with rules on emissions all around the world.
“We will issue a software update for users in France to accommodate the protocol used by French regulators.”
On Tuesday, Barrot gave the United States tech giant two weeks to issue an update to its phone, which was coming to the end of its career as a front-line Apple product.
He said the agency in charge of testing, the ANFR, would quickly assess the update and he would then decide whether to lift the ban on sales.
The World Health Organization has said several studies have been conducted in the field and “no adverse health effects have been established as being caused by mobile phone use”.
Earlier, France’s radiation watchdog has banned sales of Apple’s iPhone 12 after tests that it said showed the smartphone breached European radiation exposure limits.
The French agency, the ANFR, said on Wednesday that testing found that 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.
The ANFR said it “ordered Apple to remove the iPhone 12 from the French market from September 12”. If Apple does not resolve the issue, the ANFR said it would order a recall of the device across France.
Apple has disputed the watchdog’s conclusions, saying the iPhone 12 was certified by multiple international bodies as compliant with global radiation standards. (Int’l News Desk)
