Are the EU and the US heading for a trade war by dirty means? I ask because for the second time in a week Apple finds itself on the sharp end of European regulations. First, the company was obliged to provide a standard USB socket and charger for its iPhone 15, as opposed to the specific charger previously used by Apple. Now, French regulators have declared that the iPhone 12 doesn’t reach Europe’s radiological protection standards. According to the Agence Nationale des Frequences, the device emits 5.74 watts of electromagnetic radiation per kilogramme – above the 4.0 watts allowed by European product standards. Apple insists that the device is fully-compliant.
While the French findings don’t have a great bearing on public health, given that the levels of acceptable emissions are set at around a tenth of what is believed to be actually harmful, it will require software to be rewritten. The test only covers sales in France, but with the entire EU signed up to the same standards, other countries may wish to impose their own bans.
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