Shock for those with iPhone phones: It could be banned across Europe!

The country's National Frequency Agency (ANFR) said on Tuesday that Apple would be forced to recall all iPhone 12 phones in France if corrective updates do not work, after tests found electromagnetic radiation 40 percent above the legal limit. On Wednesday, the Dutch digital watchdog said it had reviewed the ANFR report and was awaiting an explanation from the US tech giant.

'A norm has been exceeded. Fortunately there is no acute safety risk but we will be talking to the manufacturer very shortly,' Angeline van Dijk, inspector at the Nederlandse Rijksinspectie Digitale Infrastructuur (RDI), told Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad. 'The Netherlands is as committed as France to the safe use of cell phones. Cell phones must comply with European norms.' Belgium and Germany made their own statements on Thursday and network regulators said the French procedure could serve as a guiding function for the whole of Europe.

It could have a snowball effect for Apple France's junior minister for the digital economy, Jean-Noel Barrot, said on Tuesday that ANFR's data will be shared with other EU member states, which could have a 'snowball effect' for Apple. 'Apple is expected to respond within two weeks,' he told French newspaper Le Parisien.

'If they don't, I am ready to order a recall of all iPhones on the market. The rule is the same for everyone, including the digital giants.

The iPhone 12 series smartphones were already due to be discontinued following the unveiling of the iPhone 15 on Tuesday, meaning any sales ban would not have a significant impact on Apple's phone sales.

But if a solution cannot be found, a continent-wide recall would have significant implications for the world's richest company.