iPhone 13 still ships with earphones in France because of this law

Iphone 13 Review Hero
Iphone 13 Review Hero (Image credit: Joseph Keller / iMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple's iPhone 13 still comes with Lightning EarPods in France.
  • This is because of a law designed to protect young children from electromagnetic radiation.
  • Apple ships the phone inside a larger plain white box, just like it did with iPhone 12.

As was the case with iPhone 12, Apple's iPhone 13 ships in France inside a larger plain white box with Apple's Lightning EarPods.

Iphone 13 France

Iphone 13 France (Image credit: Recklesss)

As noted by a user in the MacRumors forums, Apple's new best iPhone still comes inside a larger box due to laws in France designed to protect children younger than 14 from potential electromagnetic radiation, encouraging them not to hold their phones up to the side of their head when using it. This was also the case last year, from that report:

Except French law requires smartphone vendors to ship their smartphones with a hands-free device or headphones because of laws about electromagnetic radiation, particularly in relation to small children.Because of this, Apple's iPhone 12 (and previous models) will still come with Lightning EarPods.

Apple's iPhone 12 was the first iPhone not to ship with a charger or Lightning EarPods, a move that proved controversial for some but allows the company to make massive savings when it comes to shipping costs and emissions as well as packaging. Apple has gone one step further this year by removing the plastic wrapping that used to cover iPhone boxes, instead using a small paper seal at one end of the box.

Apple says that its decision to remove the charger and headphones from its iPhone boxes will save 2 million metric tons of carbon each year, the equivalent of taking 450,000 cars off the road. Apple has promised to carbon neutral by 2030, and this represents a pretty big chunk of its 25 million metric ton carbon footprint.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design. Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9