It would be safe to say that the entire iPhone 12 lineup has more magnets than you might have kept with you in your drawer. Still, they serve a functionality that allows the phones to be wirelessly charged amongst other functionalities.
However, according to the latest report, a medical study that has been published by Hearth Rhythm Journal suggests that MagSafe might cause issues with some medical devices, namely pacemakers.
The Pacemakers May Not Function Properly Due to iPhone 12's MagSafe
However, the report does point that the complications are not going to be due to the number of magnets installed in the iPhone 12, but how strong they are. The study also indicated that when an iPhone 12 is equipped with MagSafe was put next to a Medtronic pacemaker; the medical device was deactivated.
Medical Xpress pitched in and talked more about how the medical industry needs to make changes to ensure that such incidents don't occur.
Unless companies like Medtronic get on board and move to smarter device configuration options, they will continue to butt heads with consumer devices—and they will continue to lose. Smarter options don’t have to be expensive; just look at your cheap IR TV remote or ultrasonic receiver-emitter pair. These devices simply work. They use an uncomplicated code to make sure there is no interference from all the other ambient sources that are invariably present. A couple of secure ultrasonic bits superimposed on your basic 40 khz carrier waves is all that is really needed. It is likely that companies like Medtronic are working on solutions like this; for example, a Medtronic programming head of some sort can be had on Ebay at the moment for a mere $34.99.
Although this is just a single test, it is safe to say that more tests will take place in the future, so this can be validated. For those wondering, Apple has a support document that does reference medical devices. The company talks about how iPhone 12 has magnets, but the devices should not pose any risk to the medical devices. This is what the statement says.
Though all iPhone 12 models contain more magnets than prior iPhone models, they’re not expected to pose a greater risk of magnetic interference to medical devices than prior iPhone models.
At the time of writing, if you or someone you know owns an iPhone 12 with a MagSafe and also has a pacemaker should be careful or stop using the MagSafe accessories altogether until there is further evidence to support that it is not harmless or some updates are made to the Pacemaker technology overall.
