Apple iPhone 17 Air Review: Ultra-thin elegance meets near-limit SAR—great iPhone, but don’t confuse compliance with safety
Resources
Phone Reviews
Mar 5, 2026
The iPhone 17 Air is a design flex: a 5.64 mm ultra-thin iPhone with a gorgeous 6.6-inch Super Retina XDR OLED and A19-class speed. But RF-conscious buyers should pause—its hotspot and simultaneous SAR readings sit essentially at the FCC’s 1.6 W/kg ceiling. It’s a strong phone that demands safer-use discipline.
Effects of Anatomical Differences on Electromagnetic Fields, SAR, and Temperature Change.
Research
RF Safe Research Library
Jan 1, 2016
This engineering study evaluates how anatomical/geometric differences affect MRI RF safety metrics. Simulations and a bovine-phantom experiment found that similar transmit B-field patterns can coincide with notably different peak SAR and temperature rise. The authors highlight challenges in using…
Reduction of implant RF heating through modification of transmit coil electric field.
Research
RF Safe Research Library
Jan 1, 2011
This engineering study describes modifying MRI RF transmit coil electric-field distributions to create electric field-free zones without substantially changing transmit sensitivity. Phantom experiments are reported to show reduced implant heating when a zero electric-field plane is aligned with the implant location.…
Minimal-SAR RF pulse optimization for parallel transmission in MRI.
Research
RF Safe Research Library
Jan 1, 2008
This engineering study presents an optimization framework to design RF pulses for parallel transmission MRI with the goal of minimizing SAR. Using computer simulations of a 4-channel system, the authors report significant SAR reduction while maintaining excitation pattern quality and without increasing pulse…