Regulators in Germany may put Apple's iPhone 12 to the test for electromagnetic radiation after France banned the sale of the devices for surpassing allowable levels of radiation.
A spokesperson for Germany's Federal Network Agency, which oversees telecommunications equipment among other tasks, said that the French determination should guide responses from other European regulators.
On Tuesday, the French telecommunications regulator ANFR ordered that the iPhone model "no longer (be) offered for sale in all distribution channels in France," according to a press release.
"If the proceedings in France are sufficiently advanced, the Federal Network Agency would consider a procedure for the German market," the German agency spokesperson said.
He said German regulators are in touch with their French colleagues.
The ANFR recently tested 141 phones in a laboratory to determine how much electromagnetic radiation the body absorbs during the operation of the phone. It was found that the iPhone 12 exceeded the limit for direct body contact – for example in the hand or in the pocket.
Jean-Noel Barrot, France's junior minister for the digital economy, told newspaper Le Parisien a software update could fix the problem. If Apple does not resolve the issue, the ANFR said it would order a recall of the device across France.
Apple disputes the watchdog's conclusions, saying the iPhone 12 was certified by multiple international bodies as compliant with global radiation standards.
The main issue caused by a phone's "non-ionizing" type of radiation is the heating up of body tissue. Above set limits, and depending on the duration of exposure, this can lead to health effects such as burns or heat stroke, according to the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), a body that sets guidelines for the limits globally.
The ANFR said accredited labs had found an SAR of 5.74 watts per kilogram during tests of the iPhone 12 being held in the hand or kept in a trouser pocket. The EU standard is 4.0 watts per kilogram. However, this represents no risk to human health, the chair of ICNIRP, Professor Rodney Croft, said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and other international health bodies say there is no definitive evidence that radiation from mobile phones causes other adverse health effects. However, it has called for more research.
In 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classed the radiation from mobile phones as "possibly carcinogenic," or class 2B. This designation is used when the agency cannot rule out a potential link.
The agency said there was "limited" evidence of an increased risk of brain tumors in some, but not all, of the research available – and particularly for "heavy users" – but it could not rule out bias or errors in the data, meaning no definitive conclusions could be drawn.