The regulators also ordered Apple to fix the existing iPhone handsets.
Within hours of Apple revealing their new iPhone 15 line-up, including the long-awaited arrival of the USB-C charging port, there were reports that the company could be in some hot water over a previous iteration of the iPhone.
The Agence Nationale des Fréquences (ANFR), the French agency that regulates radio frequencies, reportedly discovered in their testing that the Apple iPhone 12 “emits more electromagnetic waves susceptible to be absorbed by the body than permitted.”
As reported by France 24, the ANFR “ordered Apple to remove the iPhone 12 from the French market from September 12 due to the model exceeding the limit”.
The European standard is a specific absorption rate of electromagnetic energy by the body is 4.0 watts per kilogram, but as per the report from ANFR accredited labs, the iPhone 12 apparently found absorption levels were up to 5.74 watts per kilogram while the device was being held in a hand or pocket.
Upon these results, the ANFR stated that “Concerning phones already sold, Apple must in the briefest of delays take corrective measures to bring the affected phones into compliance. Otherwise, Apple will have to recall them.”
Meanwhile, the new line of Apple products, the most expensive of which will retail at €1,989, will be available to pre-order from Friday 15 September, and then available to purchase in-store and online from Friday 22 September.
Related links:
- Apple shows off iPhone 15’s new USB-C port
- Apple reveals cost of iPhone 15
- Apple issues warning for people who charge their iPhone while they’re sleeping
