• eric@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    This title is so misleading. France hasn’t banned the device, and the radiation levels could likely be fixed with a software update. French officials have stated that they may prohibit sale and issue a recall IF Apple doesn’t respond to their request. The article says as much:

    France’s junior minister for the digital economy, Jean-Noël Barrot, told newspaper Le Parisien that a software update would be able to address the radiation issues linked to the iPhone 12. Apple has two weeks to respond to France’s request, if it fails to do so, Barrot stated that he is prepared to issue a recall of the device, which went on sale in 2020.

    Also, why the hell did it take French agencies 4 years to test this device? Even if Apple says they won’t update the phones and is forced to stop selling them, taking a 4 year old phone off the market won’t really hurt them in any way.

    • Otter@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Maybe something changed more recently to warrant a test?

      The story feels like pop-science websites running with a story that’s otherwise pretty boring regulatory proceedings.

    • krayj@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      The article says:

      The French agency that regulates radio frequencies, the ANFR, has notified Apple of its decision to ban iPhone 12 sales after tests showed the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) was above the allowed limit.

      Followed by this quote:

      The ANFR said it would verify that the iPhone 12 models were no longer being offered for sale in France starting today.

      That sounds a lot like “banned” to me. Considering those two quotes, I don’t think the article title is misleading. It sounds like they are banning sales effective immediately, and will force apple to conduct a recall if they can’t retroactively fix the already sold units.