ANFR, the national frequency agency, has delivered its verdict. No, the 5G smartphones currently available on the market do not represent any danger to the health of consumers. Of the 46 devices tested (out of 13 5G compatible), only two of them exceeded regulatory limits in terms of exposure to electromagnetic waves.
After announcing at the beginning of September the deployment of more than 30,000 5G compatible sites in France, the ANFR has finally just made its first SAR (specific absorption rate) check of 5G phones marketed in France. This study, commissioned by the secretary in charge of digital Cédric O, aims to “quantify the energy transported by electromagnetic waves and absorbed by the human body ” emitted by 5G smartphones currently in circulation.
Good news for worried users, the institution is formal: 5G smartphones available in France do not represent any danger to their health. “The first checks carried out within the framework of market surveillance show that the additional contribution of 5G is very low and only appears when the 4G and 5G antennas in the phone are co-located ”, ensures the agency.
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ANFR retries two smartphones out of 46
Since the start of 2021, the ANFR has carried out DAS checks on 46 smartphones, including 13 5G compatible, whether in DAS trunk and limb. 44 of them were found to comply with the regulations (ie a quantity of less than 2W / Kg for the trunk SAR and 4W / Kg for the member SAR). And you will have done the math, two devices were reset due to levels exceeding the threshold values.
These are the EssentielB Heyou 60 and EssentielB Heyou 4, two entry-level 4G smartphones sold by the Boulanger brand and manufactured by Sourcing et Création. As the ANFR specifies, the two smartphones displayed high levels of trunk SAR and limb SAR of 2.86 W / Kg and 5.26 W / Kg (Heyou 60) and 2.54 W / Kg and 4, respectively, 02 W / Kg (Heyou 40).
The French agency adds that the manufacturer has deployed a software update on both devices “to reduce power ” phones and “lower the SAR level below the thresholds of 2 and 4 W / Kg ”. By the end of 2021, ANFR intends to strengthen its controls, with the objective of examining 140 terminals in the long term.