The Cupertino-based tech giant Apple has announced that its upcoming iOS 17.1 software update will lower iPhone 12 radiation levels. The iOS 17.1 update will be released later in October.
According to MacRumors, France in September ordered the iPhone maker to cease iPhone 12 sales and implement a ‘fix’ for devices that would bring them into compliance with European electromagnetic radiation standards.
The company in a support document said that it is disabling the off-body detection feature that allows for slightly higher transmit power when an iPhone is not held or in a pocket.
The detection feature is going to be disabled only in France, and Apple said that it is being turned off despite the fact that the country’s ANFR regulatory group made an error when doing its radiation tests.
ANFR used a testing protocol that did not account for the iPhone’s off-body detection mechanism, which Apple said has been thoroughly tested and verified internationally to be an effective mechanism to comply with SAR requirements.
“iPhone has sensors that can detect when it is sitting on a static surface, like a table, as opposed to being held in the hand or placed in a pocket. This off-body detection mechanism, which has been used in all iPhones for over a decade, allows the device to increase transmit power slightly in off-body scenarios to optimize performance,” Apple said.
With the iOS 17.1 update, iPhone 12 models in France will no longer increase their allowed power when the off-body state is detected, so coverage in areas where cellular signal is low may cause slightly lower cellular performance in some off-body use cases, though most users are not expected to notice a change.
The US-based tech giant claims that the iPhone 12 is safe to use and always has been. The company’s iPhones must meet international energy transmission standards for health and safety to ensure limited energy transmission when a device is in contact with the human body.
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