France bans sales of Apple iPhone 12 over too-high radiation levels

The regulator threatened to recall Apple’s smartphone if the company failed to comply with the order.

The decision to ban the iPhone 12 in France was taken after a routine test of 141 mobile phones, the Agence Nationale des Fréquences authority (ANFR) said on Tuesday.

The device, which Apple has been selling since 2020, was found to have above-threshold levels of radiation when it was in contact with the body.

Specifically, the iPhone 12’s specific absorption rate (SAR) was 5.74W/kg, putting it above the maximum limit of 4W/kg, the ANFR said.

The phone did not exceed the maximum radiation levels when kept 5mm away from the body, the watchdog noted.

SAR measures the amount of radio frequency power that is absorbed by the human head or body when using a mobile phone. It is calculated in watts per kilogram of body weight.

Apple said it contested the results of the review. The iPhone 12 is certified by multiple international bodies and recognised as compliant with all applicable SAR regulations, the company added.

Apple said it had provided ANFR representatives with multiple Apple and independent third-party lab results proving its compliance, and will continue to engage with the regulator to show it is compliant.

France’s junior minister for the digital economy told newspaper Le Parisien that Apple had two weeks to respond. He said that a software update for the iPhone 12 would be sufficient to fix the issue.

The French watchdog announced its ban on the same day that Apple revealed its new iPhone 15 range at an event in California.

Apple has discontinued the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 Mini to prevent disruption of new smartphone sales. The models are still available to purchase through third-party retailers.

There have been concerns and conspiracy theories suggesting that the radio waves smartphones produce might be unsafe.

But most current research suggests that it’s unlikely that mobile phones, or 4G and 5G base stations, increase the risk of health problems such as cancer.

Cell phones emit low levels of non-ionising radiation when in use to find a signal, which is also referred to as radio frequency energy. These radio waves are absorbed into your body tissue as energy, adding to the energy produced by your body’s metabolism.

However, the radiation produced by mobile phones or mobile phone masts is very weak. It does not have enough energy to damage DNA, so is highly unlikely to be able to cause cancer, according to charity Cancer Research UK.

The only known effect of radio waves on the human body is a very small rise in temperature of up to 0.2C. This is comparable to natural increases in temperature, such as during exercise, and does not pose a known risk to health, according to the NHS.

Large reviews of published research examining the effects of mobile phone exposure on users have found that they do not cause health complications. However, further research is still needed to check that there are no health impacts from long-term exposures (using a mobile phone for more than 20 years).

Smartphone maker Sony has said that SAR values exaggerate real-life radiation exposure levels. This is because testing for these limits takes place in laboratory conditions, where phones are transmitting at their highest certified power levels.

Whereas during everyday use, mobile phones transmit at much lower energy levels in order to maximise battery life, Sony states on its website.

If you are still worried about exposing yourself to smartphone radio waves, you can take the following steps recommended by the NHS:

Most phone makers list their phones’ radiation levels in the legal section of a device’s settings menu. Look for terms such as RF Exposure or SAR Rating when searching for this info. Samsung, meanwhile, provides the SAR levels for specific phone models on its website.

You can find the radiation value listings for major phone brands by following the links below: