iPhone 12 SAR-lowering software update approved by French authorities

While the past two weeks have been all about the iPhone 15 series, we did get a strange recent development with the three-year-old iPhone 12 in France. The National Frequency Agency (ANFR) found the vanilla iPhone 12 was emitting higher than allowed electromagnetic waves which forced the regulator to ban Apple from selling the device on the local market and required Cupertino to issue a software update.

A new report from ANFR claims that the regulator has now approved Apple’s iPhone 12 software update (version 4.06.02) which was tested by the French agency and was found to lower the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) levels to 3.94W/kg. The press release reads "It is now up to Apple to distribute the new update to all iPhone 12 users in France".

The EU standard for a device’s SAR placed in a pocket is 4.0 watts per kilogram while the iPhone 12 was found to have a SAR of 5.74 W/kg prior to the latest update. It should be noted that testing methods in France differ from other countries as they include SAR tests for limbs (i.e holding the phone in hand) which the iPhone 12 failed. Interestingly enough, the iPhone 12 was not above the SAR threshold when it first launched in 2020 but the French agency introduced its updated SAR for limbs testing methods that same year.

Officials from several EU member states including Belgium, Germany and Italy previously asked Apple to issue this update to the whole of the EU but it remains to be seen if Apple will push the update to the other countries outside of France.

Source (in French)