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Apple iOS Update to Fix iPhone 12 Radiation Levels Approved by French Regulators
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Sorry, but not buying it!
If there is a cap on the output power, why did it change? What changed it, since at lunch, it was in conformity with France law. Why only the 12 model? Isn't the same code run on all devices?
iPhone 12 will go down in history as one of the worse! Terrible battery life! Overheating and now radiation! 11pm/13pm Master race!
Such a good guy Apple, always complying in good faith when nicely asked.
That's truly admirable!
That's truly admirable!
My thoughts exactly. If in fact the overheating with some iPhone 15 Pros turns out to be something Apple addresses (I’ve had virtually zero issues with my 15 PM) I wonder if that fix also comes from throttling performance.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Or this is MACrumors.
Not so much news will appear here about other smartphone manufacturers in Europe.
Meanwhile, over on Sharkrumors.com, only stories about sharks seem to get published, generally ignoring the multitude of land animal stories (including those pesky humans) and/or the seemingly oddball stories about vacuum cleaners by brands other than Shark.
France has already ordered the sun to reduce its radiation levels or face being fully blocked in France.
Apple radiation is better than that filthy Android radiation tho
Americans have a quite different sensibility compared to European regarding health related limitations. Many many things forbidden in Europe are perfectly legal in US (especially regarding food and chemicals)
The radio hardware for iPhone 13, 14 and 15 is likely different than that iPhone 12, so software developed for those later generations could have caused the iPhone 12 to no longer operate the same. Therefore a "fix" was needed for the 12's hardware.
I doubt this was an intentional change. Apple doesn't focus too much on older-generation devices, so it was more likely an unintended side-effect as hardware evolved, and the software changed to support that newer hardware.
"The ANFR ordered Apple to "remove the iPhone 12 from the French market from September 12 due to the model exceeding the limit" for electromagnetic absorption by the body. The agency also told Apple to recall every iPhone 12 it has ever sold in the country. Ministers later said that though the radiation level was above the accepted standard, it was not dangerous and people were safe to continue using the phones, local media reported."
The device is completely safe and you can use it, but Apple must remove the device from the market and do a 100% recall? Hmm...
The device is completely safe and you can use it, but Apple must remove the device from the market and do a 100% recall? Hmm...
Well see the French are scared of radio waves so you just turn down the antenna until they feel good and everyone in France has a crappy phone connection. It’s easy fix.
You're accusing Apple of being malicious and sneaky, without any proof. I'm pretty confident they didn't plan to change how the iPhone 12's hardware operated 3 years later. iOS (software) evolved to support newer hardware, and it likely had this unintended side-effect on the 12's radios.
The fact that they were able to develop a software fix that targeted just the iPhone 12 is proof enough.
The trade in value probably went to zero for iPhone 12 in France. With all the different sources to buy iPhones (some are legal), a recall would be nearly impossible. But Apple could just send a signal and brick all the "12" models. Problem solved and since required by a government agency, would possibly limit the $$ exposure.
While your information is correct that doesn’t make it meaningful and you need evidence it’s not safe. The body functions over a wide range of temperatures and the phone will have negligible impact on those ranges. And it’s not like a microwave since that is a very specific frequency not just the fact it’s microwaves. The non contact heat difference of a room temperature phone being placed on human tissue and emitting RF likely could not be measured.
So what you're saying is your comment is irrelevant because there is little in common between these two concepts besides having "radiation" in the name?
Proving a clown show can happen there too. You are right with logic on this and the fact Apple has to comply with this is silly because it makes makes France out of touch and wtf honestly
Why not release a phone that releases less radiation with a minor software fix in the first place then?
From the article:
So it was actually Apple's software updates in the first place which caused the radiation levels to increase above limits.
Apple likely didn't expect those changes in radiation level (unforeseen side-effects can happen) or didn't expect to cause the device to exceed regulatory limits (or didn't expect to get caught...).
Still, if they caused the issue with software updates it stands to reason that they can resolve the issue the same way.
Gotta love how various countries/regions/governments deem different levels as being safe. It's not like these type of things vary based on where you are...we're all human. Is France just being extra safe, or are other regions over the actual "safe" limit?
A similar example, HEPA filters... HEPA-certified filters in most places are those that filter down to 0.3 microns; however, these are not HEPA-certified in the EU and are considered "unsafe". They require them to filter down to 0.1 microns to be HEPA-certified. (It used to be 0.3 microns up until a year or two ago.) Again, is the EU being extra safe?
Apple did. The levels appear to have increased over time due to software updates. The updates are typically done to improve cellular connectivity. The updates likely passed all of Apple's internal testing but because France's monitoring agency uses a different testing approach, the iPhone 12 was over the threshold on two of how ever many tests the agency performs on each phone. It might have been 2/10 tests "failed" but we know the phone passed most of the tests (it passed phone in jacket pocket, phone in bag, and phone held up to head, and likely other tests). However, France's regulations stipulate that if any individual test is over an EU-set threshold, the phone "fails" completely.
Apple's initial response was more like, "You're testing it differently." Apple (and other countries) use different methods of testing devices. France uses one particular method; their method might not be the best one. The method Apple uses might not be the best one; they are just different.