The iPhone 13 is different in France: this is how it has been adapted to the laws of the country

All iPhone 13 models sold in France must be different from the rest of European countries, due to the laws of protection of minors.

If you buy an iPhone 13 in Spain, you will receive a small box with only two things: the mobile and a Lightning to USB-C charging cable. However, if you buy it in France, for exactly the same price you will get a pair of Earpods wired headphones, in a different box than the rest of the world.

Since the launch of the iPhone 11, Apple does not include a power adapter, necessary to charge the mobile, or the Earpods wired headphones; and since the iPhone 12, the box is smaller and more ecological, avoiding the unnecessary use of plastics.

Apple presented these changes as a way to protect the environment, justifying it in that most users already have chargers and headphones; but no one was unaware that the company saved a small percentage for each mobile sold, and encouraged the purchase of chargers and headphones separately.

But this plan does not fit with some laws. In France, for example, it is mandatory for all smartphones and mobile devices to include a “hands-free kit”, which can be a special device, or simply a headset with a microphone.

The reason for the law is somewhat controversial; was born in response to concerns about the effect of radioelectric emissions from mobile phones. Although there is not enough evidence, the French government once argued that the effects of radiation on the brain are not yet fully known in the youngest. That is why manufacturers are obliged to include methods to make calls without having to put the mobile to the ear; hence, most manufacturers continue to include headphones with a microphone.

The iPhone 13 case with the Earbuds. Image: MacRumors

For Apple, it’s a logistics problem. The case of the iPhone 13 is thinner and smaller, and there is no room for Earpods. For this reason, only in France does the company distribute its mobiles in “a box within a box”. It is a large box that includes the same iPhone box that is sold in Spain, and the Earbuds. This is how it appears in a photo shared by a user of .

France is not the only country where Apple would have to create a ‘special edition’. Brazil already fined the apple company last March for not including a charger; the consumer protection agency Procon-SP alleged that Apple was not including “everything necessary” to use the device, as required by law. With the release of the iPhone 13, Apple is already being investigated by the same agency for doing the exact same thing, as they believe Apple’s new warning that the iPhone doesn’t have a charger “isn’t good enough.”