Live data from Hacker News

iPhone 12 withdrawn from French market for non-compliance with EU regulation

anfr.fr

231–240 of 309 posts

Re: iPhone 12 withdrawn from French market for non-compliance with EU regulation

#231
post #87

I love my Apple Watch ultra, because with cellular I can use it as a phone – a very lightweight phone without social media distractions. But I have to say I am a little bit uneasy about having a cellphone strapped to my arm. Someone with physics knowledge please calm me down?

I have a Samsung watch without cellular but with bluetooth communications instead. Can someone eloborate what the difference is between celluar connections and other wireless tech like headless phones or watches? Is there any difference except strength etc. Never believed it before, but suddently the thought of wireless technologies being bad gave me a reality check and I realized I have never questioned it.

Bluetooth is also non-ionizing. The frequency is close frequency to WiFi: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth#Health_concerns

Re: iPhone 12 withdrawn from French market for non-compliance with EU regulation

#232
post #165
post #22

Apple has denied those findings. > Apple said it had provided ANFR with multiple Apple and independent third-party lab results proving its compliance with all applicable SAR regulations and standards in the world. https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple-disputes-french-fin...

If this sounds familiar it's because accredited labs made a similar claims about the iPhone 7/8 and then again the iPhone 11. In each case it was the lab using an incorrect methodology. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what's happened here. There is a canyon of technical knowhow between RF engineers and testing labs.

Are you saying those phones were found in non-compliance, too?

If so, were they banned?

Re: iPhone 12 withdrawn from French market for non-compliance with EU regulation

#233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sun! It emits far more radiation than anything else and we don’t care about walking in sunlight.

And the sun emits ionizing radiation, which radio devices do not. And ionizing radiation is known to damage DNA and cause cancer.

The sun emits UV which certainly causes skin cancer if you get too much of it.

Re: iPhone 12 withdrawn from French market for non-compliance with EU regulation

#234
post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone asked me for a dollar in an unpleasant and totally unfounded manner, I’d probably give it to them, even if it was inconsequential.

And thus give them more encouragement them to shake down the next person, as well as you again the next time they see you on the street.

Haha, I missed a “not,” completely inverting the meaning of my sentence. Oops!

Re: iPhone 12 withdrawn from French market for non-compliance with EU regulation

#235

Apple might be able to fix this by asking the user if they're using a case, Anyone using a case thicker than ~2mm will probably sufficiently reduce the surface SAR to bring it into compliance. One might imagine a software update that asks if you're using a case. If you choose yes, nothing happens. If you choose no, then peak transmit power is reduced by 1dB (which will reduce upload speeds ~20%, and may reduce range…

Or the French model could be sold in giant plastic brick that totally could not be removed by the end user.

Re: iPhone 12 withdrawn from French market for non-compliance with EU regulation

#236
post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well if it was for the "cellular EM waves are bad" movement as you put it they would have a problem with most cellular phones and not specifically with the iPhone 12 don't you think?

Maybe, I'm just saying that the country has a different... opinion on EM waves so that might reflect on this type of action. Just as an example, if you go to their "CDC"'s (not exactly) website, the faq about em exposure from cellular waves starts by saying that there's no real proof for harmful effects buuuut... then goes on to basically say the opposite for the majority of the answer and the article in general. (Q3…

> it's a different pov

The “some publications” nonsense would literally require overturning century-old radio physics. Some publications will always find everything to be carcinogenic; this is how statistics work.

In the real world, thermal radiation can’t ionise. (Cell phones may be carcinogenic due to their materials and the behaviours they induce.)

Re: iPhone 12 withdrawn from French market for non-compliance with EU regulation

#237
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The regulation is EU not only French, I am wondering why only now they discovered the issues , was there an OS update that cause this ?

> I am wondering why only now they discovered the issues Just normal corrupted politics. Let the issues surface at the right moment.

What is the political incentive to hide these results? Why is now the most damning time to surface the evidence?

Re: iPhone 12 withdrawn from French market for non-compliance with EU regulation

#238

Why did it take them so long to check the device? The iPhone 12 has been sold since 2020, so 3 years. They probably can't check every model released, but this is one of the most sold devices. If it was actually dangerous it would have been great to know it as soon as it got released, it's not some obscure product that no one heard of on the French market.

It’s always like that in France, same for taxation.

First you declare it yourself, then later they may or may not inspect it themselves.

This way the government can sometimes save money by not doing inspections, in the long run cheater will always get caught.

Re: iPhone 12 withdrawn from French market for non-compliance with EU regulation

#239
post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> France has a huge "cellular EM waves are bad" movement What ?

I don't know the spread of this movement but it does exist. For example, the national electric company deployed a new generation of electric meter (Linky) which can communicate data to your supplier using PLC. This communication of course emits EM waves so some people objected to the installation of this meter.

IIRC the EM thing was marginal, a bigger deal was privacy (behaviours could be inferred and resold), and most of the outrage was that people feared being charged more.

Re: iPhone 12 withdrawn from French market for non-compliance with EU regulation

#240
post #100

Worth noting that this is due to the French regulators applying the same SAR absorption standard as the rest of the EU but at a closer distance. Obviously radiation follows the inverse square law so this means you absorb more radiation in France ;) Even despite this reduced allowable emission the iPhone is barely out of compliance, they will need to reduce power less than 10% or simply get another few millimeters far…

I thought this whole EM radiation fear was bogus. How does it even interact with the body? There are obviously no neutrons flying around..

Fans of crowd control would beg to differ... But those weapons are definitely not mobile phones.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Denial_System

Post reply on HN