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Apple to Issue iPhone 12 Software Update in France to Address Radiation Concerns
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It's not "within spec in all other EU nations". Why would Germany look into this if it's "within spec"? 4 watts/kg is a European limit. It's not a French-only limit.
German regulator is contact with France on Europe-wide solution over Apple iPhone 12 issue
Germany's telecom network regulator said on Friday it was in touch with French authorities about a Europe-wide solution to radiation concerns with Apple's iPhone 12 which prompted France to halt sales of the model this week.
And since you appear to know very little about the EU and France, let me enlighten you: the actual testing of radiation is actually done in Germany, at CTC Advanced lab. France didn't "decide to use a shorter non-standard distance".
For anyone who speaks French and wish to know more about this matter:
Stop your disinformation.
Which is how it should be proceeding instead of your suggestion that Apple roll out the fix everywhere immediately.
Oh France...
For a reminder as to how stupid/corrupt countries can be, I urge you to read:
table-lighters.blogspot.com
This was supposedly to make up for revenue lost to the state by the match monopoly (match monopoly? WTF? Well, yeah...) which, of course, clearly explains why it varies depending on the cost of the lighter...
As an additional fun fact, while this was supposed to be an internal measure, in fact foreigners entering France were required to have a license, and to buy one if they could not show it.
For a reminder as to how stupid/corrupt countries can be, I urge you to read:
Excise duties on French lighters, 1910–1945
A blog about vintage wick and gas table/desk lighters.
table-lighters.blogspot.com
This was supposedly to make up for revenue lost to the state by the match monopoly (match monopoly? WTF? Well, yeah...) which, of course, clearly explains why it varies depending on the cost of the lighter...
As an additional fun fact, while this was supposed to be an internal measure, in fact foreigners entering France were required to have a license, and to buy one if they could not show it.
Where did you get these claims from? The only thing I can see that's definite is (translated from French)
" In the case of the iPhone 12, the Minister indicates that the overtaking is probably the consequence of an update, which explains why the problem has not been detected before. "
That's a lot weaker a claim than the claims you are making and leaves open other possibilities like, for example, the testing regime has changed or the specific individual phone (how many are tested?) was defective.
Because it's likely they prioritized reception. I'd imagine if you are designing a device, you test to make sure it meets proper reception and your software is tuned for that.
Then you check it complies with regulations. Not sure if Apple did thorough testing of the latter or they missed France's tighter regulations. I'd imagine they did some basic FCC/CE testing.
Don’t think Apple is the party being dramatic here. This from the country that forced phone manufacturers to include headphones in the box “because radiation,” despite there being no evidence to support it.
A decade ago, there was a very talented French athlete in an Olympic sport, Gael Prevost, whose parents forced him to retire from competition after an event in China- prohibiting him from travel and events due to their irrational fear of wifi and phone signals.
Last I heard, which was about five years ago, they were literally living in a home built into a cave in the Pyrenees, with no electricity, to avoid all RF radiation.
Mental illness is real, and obviously this is an example of its impact, but it's perhaps no coincidence that the only people I personally know, and stories I've heard that were similar, with these fears, all happen to be French.
Last I heard, which was about five years ago, they were literally living in a home built into a cave in the Pyrenees, with no electricity, to avoid all RF radiation.
Mental illness is real, and obviously this is an example of its impact, but it's perhaps no coincidence that the only people I personally know, and stories I've heard that were similar, with these fears, all happen to be French.
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Like with most things in this world, take things in moderation because otherwise it starts to cause problems. Drink too much water and you can get water poisoning, take in too much sun and you can get skin cancer, take in too much smoking and it can kill your lungs, eat too much and it can cause obesity leading to heart failure and the list goes on. Mobile phones are no different. We are all told mobile phones give of small amounts of RF radiation. So what is going to happen if your constantly making calls all throughout the day? yep it's going to start to affect you. Do things in moderation.
Your example is exclusive to that one country, but these regulations are EU wide, Germany and Italy or Spain can’t remember which were also looking into banning iPhone 12 sales.
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1945, really? This is the weakest French-bashing since 1945.Oh France...
For a reminder as to how stupid/corrupt countries can be, I urge you to read:
Excise duties on French lighters, 1910–1945
A blog about vintage wick and gas table/desk lighters.
This was supposedly to make up for revenue lost to the state by the match monopoly (match monopoly? WTF? Well, yeah...) which, of course, clearly explains why it varies depending on the cost of the lighter...
As an additional fun fact, while this was supposed to be an internal measure, in fact foreigners entering France were required to have a license, and to buy one if they could not show it.
EU regulations are typically left up to individual member states to implement. Since France is so far the only country to make this determination, chances are good that it's due to a particular quirk of the French testing regime.
If you look at the published SAR values from the Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz (BfS), the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection, the iPhone 12's value is around half the legal limit of 2W/kg:
| Apple - iPhone 12 Current model | 0,98 | 0,99 (measuring distance: 0,50 cm) |
Those are about the same as the other iPhone 12-14 models (Regular,Plus,Pro,ProMax) and most earlier models; none of which exceed 2 W/kg.
Not sure why the numbers are so different but the BfS' numbers show the iPhone is compliant with EU law.
No, not really. The actual testing is done in Germany, at CTC Advanced lab. It's not a quirk.
Actually member states have to abide by the EU regulations, they can‘t cherry pick what they do and do not follow, also Germany Belgium and The Netherlands are also looking into this, because they follow the same regulations. Apple would be facing a European wide blocking on iPhone 12 sales and all the press coverage they comes with that, next would be a recall I believe.
Germany is and Belgium now looking to BAN Apple's iPhone 12
France banning Apple iPhone 12 sales has started a snowball effect across Europe. Germany and Belgium could announce the same move, while Italy is monitoring the situation.
But this is moot as Apple have agreed to fix it anyway.
That’s Apples figure 0.98, not what the regulators are now testing it as, hence the fix being issued by Apple.
Apple to the French regulators, “you’re holding it wrong!”
How did they even come up with “safe“ levels? Especially after the last few years, I assume they just made it up. I don’t have an opinion about whether cell phone radiation is safe or not, but I err on the side of caution.
How did they even come up with “safe“ levels? Especially after the last few years, I assume they just made it up. I don’t have an opinion about whether cell phone radiation is safe or not, but I err on the side of caution.
Fair enough. Per BfS they collect values; the question remains”how do values increase by 20%?” I find it hard to believe Apple, or any company, would falsely report results. That would criminal. There is more to this story. Will be interesting to see what happened.
Edit: Corrected comparison error
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There couldn't be any long-term evidence as we've only used this kind of devices for a short time. It's really the longterm exposure especially with the heavy usage as people are hooked on them.
CDC also says that we don't know. History is packed with inventions that were found unsafe later on when the evidence mounted over the longer term. Hopefully that's not the case here, but better to err on side of caution.
We don’t know for sure if RF radiation from cell phones can cause health problems years later. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified RF radiation as a “possible human carcinogen.”
CDC - Radiation: FAQs about Cell Phones and Your Health
Frequently asked questions about cell phones and your health. Provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.www.cdc.gov
Cellphones have been commercially available since the early 1980’s. That was 40 years ago. So yeah we do have long term evidence. Further they use the same spectrum as radios, microwaves, etc. which we have been exposed to for far longer without consequence. Finally we also have physics which has a pretty strong grasp of EM and it’s affects.
So sure, let the French pretend there is a risk despite zero evidence even though we’ve been studying and using radio waves safely for decades…
Was expecting a software update to fix the issue. Not happy that the SAR values are above the limits
No one ever said they made false report results? Where are you getting that from? It’s really very simple. When the phone was launched and for a time after it met the regulations as stated, a firmware release at some point has caused the power of the phone to increase and now it exceeds those regulations, and as these phones are regularly tested for compliance it’s most likely a recent update. All they have to do is reduce the power back down. The French said all they needed to do is release a firmware fix.
You seem to be reading far more into this then exists.
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Never said it did, in fact I said:
I find it hard to believe Apple, or any company, would falsely report results. That would criminal.
What I found odd only 1 phone increased passed the limit. As an engineer, that drastic a change should trigger a root cause investigation to determine what allowed that to happen, to avoid a repeat; especially since it appears to be an anomaly. I'm pretty sure Apple would do that.
My point was you had a very unusual event that leads to actions beyond a mere fix. Fixing the problem, without a proper determination of cause, doesn't fix what lead to the problem. Good engineering practice would be to fix the underlying causes and not just addressing a specific issue. Something, assuming the French testing is accurate, caused only this one particular model to exceed SAR limits.
What I also find odd is that apparently only the limb value was exceeded. If you look at the results for phones, the head and body numbers are nearly the same. Unless the limb dummy has significantly different absorption characteristics I would expect the results to be similar; yet apparently the French testing only found limb OOS. That is a curious result. I'm not doubting it, just that it would be informative to see what caused such a difference that the numbers were ~6x from head/body.
I have no idea how often Apple, or any manufacturer, conducts SAR retesting on phones. Based on my experiences in other industries, I would if I were doing an RCI, recommend retesting after each major software release or annually to catch any problems.
You misunderstood what I wrote. The 4 W/KG is a limb SAR requirement, and may be unique to France, as best as I could find out. The BfS doesn't report limb SAR, only body and head; for example. If there was also a limb SAR limit you'd think they'd list those results as well.
Interestingly, the US SAR level is 1.6 vs. the EU's 2.
France apparently has stricter requirements than the EU ones.
Edit:Clarified comments
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It is ironic that the article mentions regulators backtracked a little after threatening to recall all iPhones 12. On the one hand they say it's not dangerous, keep using it. But we also might have to recall every single one of them because it's a big deal. Which is it, a big deal or not?
It makes it seem like they didn't really think this all the way through before making such bold claims and threats of recall.
There is but in this case I think it's OK. This really does seem to be a case of France's over-caution on one hand (which is reasonable) and Apple's lack of keeping up with regulatory testing on the other. They can make the radio meet local regulations in software, so it's not a big deal and I think it just got blown up into a bigger story than it had to be. Apparently it's 2 watts over the limit.