In a press release published on 27 February 2019, the French National Frequency Agency (ANFR) announced that it had requested and obtained an update from XIAOMI of two of its mobile phones, the Redmi Note 5 and the Mi Mix 2S, in order to ensure compliance with the limit value for specific absorption rates (SARs) located “head” and “trunk”. This temporarily brings the number of smartphones pinned down by the control agency in 2018 to twelve.
First observed overrun of head SAR
Concerning the Redmi Note 5, the tests were carried out on 25 September 2018 by the German accredited laboratory CTC Advanced. The head SAR for 10gr is 2.08 W/kg higher than the regulatory value of 2W/kg. And it is the exposure in 4G that mainly explains the observed overruns.
Xiaomi first manufacturer suspected of deception punishable by a criminal offence
According to the ANFR website as it appeared on June 7, 2017:
“Criminal sanctions are provided for the distributor in the event of an infringement: if the SAR displayed is not the actual SAR, there is deception. If, in addition, it is above the regulatory threshold, there is non-compliance. The latter case has never occurred to date…”
However, ANFR says nothing in its press release about possible actions against the Chinese manufacturer. We have therefore written to them today to find out what legal measures have been taken to address this deception on the actual SAR levels of the Redmi Note 5 model.
Xiaomi does not inform its customers and sells off its mobile phone
We already knew the manufacturers who “forget” to inform their customers of exposure threshold violations, Xiaomi is no exception. Not a word either on the page of his website dedicated to the distribution of Redmi Note 5. And worse, the Chinese manufacturer leaves the initial SAR level of 1.29 W/kg misleading, whereas it is 2.08 W/kg before the update.
Xiaomi is even stronger by launching, on the same day of ANFR’s announcement that it has exceeded the DAS, a commercial promotion of its model, sold according to the Clubic website, with a 30% discount.
Another Xiaomi out of the nails with the MI Mix 2S
Another Xiaomi model is the MI Mix 2S, which has a trunk SAR of 2.94 W/kg well above the regulatory limit of 2W/kg. This one has been updated. And as with the other model, no information is provided to customers and there is another price promotion on the same day as the announcement of the ANFR press release.
For Dr. Marc Arazi who launched the alert in July 2016 and chairs the Phonegate Alert Association:
“The French government must initiate criminal proceedings for deception against Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi. In addition, it seems essential to us that all mobile phones of this brand should also be checked without delay to ensure that the health of users is protected. We will again refer the matter to the DGCCRF for a thorough investigation into the practices of French mobile phone manufacturers.”
