Updated Data: On 24th February 2024.
Smartphones have likely become a crucial aspect of the manner in which you have currently chosen to end up living your life, so much so that you wouldn’t even be able to imagine living without one. While the necessity of owning a smartphone is the sort of thing that you would have a really hard time arguing against, did you know that virtually all smartphones emit at least a small amount of radiation that can do you some form of bodily harm?
This is something that people have been talking about for quite some time now, and it created quite the stir not all that long ago. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that there is no conclusive research that can confirm that smartphone radiation is actually all that bad for you. However, it can still be useful to know what smartphones emit the most radiation, as well as which ones are at the other end of the spectrum to some extent or another.
Data from the German Federal Office for Radiation protection can help us to determine what smartphones are ranked where. Apple used to be the worst offender in this regard with the iPhones 7 and 8 being among the highest radiation emitting phones in history, but they have scaled this radiation back in more recent models. Hence, iPhones X and beyond are no longer ranked at the top of the scale, although they are still far from the least radiation emitting smartphones that are currently out there.
It turns out that the smartphone that emits the most radiation is actually the Motorola Edge. If you look at it in terms of Specific Absorption Rate (SAR), the Motorola Edge emits 1.79 watts of radiation per kilogram. That’s significantly higher than most other models with all things having been considered and taken into account. Coming in second is the Axon 11 5G by ZTE with 1.59 watts of radiation per kilo, followed by the OnePlus 6T at a close third with 1.55 watts which means that the Motorola phone has the dubious distinction of winning this race by a pretty large margin.
Sony has a couple of entries on this list as well, with the Xperia XA2 Plus coming in fourth and the Xperia XZ1 Compact coming in at number eight. Google also has two of the highest radiation emitting phones on the market with its Pixel 3 XL getting the number five spot and Pixel 4a following closely to get sixth place on this list. The 3a XL also emits a similar amount of radiation as the Pixel 3 XL so Google actually has three phones in this list!
Finally we have Oppo, with the Oppo Reno 5G emitting a relatively high amount of radiation when compared to other phones. While it’s not as high as the ZTE or Motorola phones on the list, it’s still a bit higher than the Xperia XZ1 so it’s not exactly safe to use if you care about the radiation that may very well be coming from your phone. Now that we have talked about the worst offenders in this respect, it is time to look at the phones that might be a bit healthier for you.
An interesting thing to note is that while ZTE has the second highest radiation emitting phone, it also offers two of the least radiation emitting models. These are the Blade V10 which emits 0.13 watts of radiation per KG, and the Axon Elite which emits 0.17. ZTE has phones on both ends of the scale which definitely indicates that they are trying to cover as many different kinds of markets as they possibly can right now.
By far the best company from a radiation emission perspective happens to be Samsung since it has 5 phones that are considered to be the best as far as radiation is concerned. The Galaxy Note 10+ is their best model from this angle, emitting a very low 0.19 watts per kilo. That’s closely followed by the Galaxy Note 10, the Galaxy A80 as well as the Galaxy A72, so both high end as well as budget phones from Samsung appear to fulfill low radiation desires among consumers for whom such a thing actually matters.
What’s more is that Samsung’s most advanced phone, the Galaxy S20 FE, also emits fairly low radiation levels at just 0.24 watts per kilo. The LG G7 ThinQ also does quite well here, with radiation levels that are more or less comparable to that of the Galaxy S20.
One thing that you might have noticed based on these lists is that higher end phone companies have worked hard to reduce their SAR, with Samsung and Apple standing out in particular. That might be because some consumers are worried about this, and they have most definitely worked hard to cater to that market as much as they possibly good.
You should bear in mind that these ratings calculate the emission that is radiated when you are on a call and the phone is placed to your ear. If you’re worried about potential health consequences, using a Bluetooth headset can be great since it would prevent the radiation from getting close enough to your body to do any reasonable level of harm. Also, try to remember that there is no research proving the harmful effects of phone radiation as of right now.
Smartphones have likely become a crucial aspect of the manner in which you have currently chosen to end up living your life, so much so that you wouldn’t even be able to imagine living without one. While the necessity of owning a smartphone is the sort of thing that you would have a really hard time arguing against, did you know that virtually all smartphones emit at least a small amount of radiation that can do you some form of bodily harm?
This is something that people have been talking about for quite some time now, and it created quite the stir not all that long ago. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that there is no conclusive research that can confirm that smartphone radiation is actually all that bad for you. However, it can still be useful to know what smartphones emit the most radiation, as well as which ones are at the other end of the spectrum to some extent or another.
Data from the German Federal Office for Radiation protection can help us to determine what smartphones are ranked where. Apple used to be the worst offender in this regard with the iPhones 7 and 8 being among the highest radiation emitting phones in history, but they have scaled this radiation back in more recent models. Hence, iPhones X and beyond are no longer ranked at the top of the scale, although they are still far from the least radiation emitting smartphones that are currently out there.
It turns out that the smartphone that emits the most radiation is actually the Motorola Edge. If you look at it in terms of Specific Absorption Rate (SAR), the Motorola Edge emits 1.79 watts of radiation per kilogram. That’s significantly higher than most other models with all things having been considered and taken into account. Coming in second is the Axon 11 5G by ZTE with 1.59 watts of radiation per kilo, followed by the OnePlus 6T at a close third with 1.55 watts which means that the Motorola phone has the dubious distinction of winning this race by a pretty large margin.
Finally we have Oppo, with the Oppo Reno 5G emitting a relatively high amount of radiation when compared to other phones. While it’s not as high as the ZTE or Motorola phones on the list, it’s still a bit higher than the Xperia XZ1 so it’s not exactly safe to use if you care about the radiation that may very well be coming from your phone. Now that we have talked about the worst offenders in this respect, it is time to look at the phones that might be a bit healthier for you.
An interesting thing to note is that while ZTE has the second highest radiation emitting phone, it also offers two of the least radiation emitting models. These are the Blade V10 which emits 0.13 watts of radiation per KG, and the Axon Elite which emits 0.17. ZTE has phones on both ends of the scale which definitely indicates that they are trying to cover as many different kinds of markets as they possibly can right now.
By far the best company from a radiation emission perspective happens to be Samsung since it has 5 phones that are considered to be the best as far as radiation is concerned. The Galaxy Note 10+ is their best model from this angle, emitting a very low 0.19 watts per kilo. That’s closely followed by the Galaxy Note 10, the Galaxy A80 as well as the Galaxy A72, so both high end as well as budget phones from Samsung appear to fulfill low radiation desires among consumers for whom such a thing actually matters.
What’s more is that Samsung’s most advanced phone, the Galaxy S20 FE, also emits fairly low radiation levels at just 0.24 watts per kilo. The LG G7 ThinQ also does quite well here, with radiation levels that are more or less comparable to that of the Galaxy S20.
One thing that you might have noticed based on these lists is that higher end phone companies have worked hard to reduce their SAR, with Samsung and Apple standing out in particular. That might be because some consumers are worried about this, and they have most definitely worked hard to cater to that market as much as they possibly good.
You should bear in mind that these ratings calculate the emission that is radiated when you are on a call and the phone is placed to your ear. If you’re worried about potential health consequences, using a Bluetooth headset can be great since it would prevent the radiation from getting close enough to your body to do any reasonable level of harm. Also, try to remember that there is no research proving the harmful effects of phone radiation as of right now.
Here's The List of High Radiation Emitting Smartphones
List of Phones Emitting The Most Radiations, Along With Their Specific Absorption Rate (in watts per kilogram) on the ear:
- Motorola Edge: 1.79
- ZTE Axon 11 5G: 1.59
- OnePlus 6T: 1.55
- Sony Xperia XA2 Plus: 1.41
- Google Pixel 3 XL: 1.39
- Google Pixel 4a: 1.37
- Oppo Reno5 5G: 1.37
- Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact: 1.36
- Google - Pixel 3: 1.33
- OnePlus - OnePlus 6: 1.33
- ZTE - AXON 7 mini: 1.29
- Huawei P smart: 1.27
- One Plus - 9: 1.26
- Huawei Nova 2: 1.25
- Sony Mobile - Xperia XZ Premium: 1.21
- Google - Pixel 4: 1.19
- Google - Pixel 3a XL: 1.17
- Google - Pixel 4XL: 1.17
- Samsung - Galaxy A42 5G: 1.15
- Sony Mobile - Xperia 1 II: 1.12
- Xiaomi - Mi Note 10: 1.11
- Samsung - Galaxy S20+ 5G: 1.08
- Sony Mobile - Xperia X Compact: 1.08
- Sony Mobile - Xperia 10 III: 1.07
- Sony Mobile - Xperia XA2: 1.07
- Samsung - Galaxy A52 5G: 1.06
- Samsung - Galaxy A30s: 1.05
- Sony Mobile - Xperia 5: 1.03
- Xiaomi - Mi Note 10 Lite: 1.01
- Xiaomi - Redmi Note 8 Pro: 1
- Google - Pixel 6: 1
- Apple - iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max: 0.99
- Apple - iPhone 12 Pro: 0.99
- Apple - iPhone 11 Pro: 0.99
- Google - Pixel 6 Pro: 0.99
- Huawei Mate RS Porsche Design: 0.99
- Motorola - Moto G 5G plus: 0.99
- One Plus - 9 Pro: 0.99
- Oppo - Reno4 Z: 0.99
- Oppo - Reno4 Pro: 0.99
And Here's The List of Low Radiation Emitting Smartphones
List of Phones Emitting The Least Radiations, Along With Their Specific Absorption Rate (in watts per kilogram) on the ear:
- ZTE Blade V10: 0.13
- ZTE Axon Elite: 0.17
- Samsung Galaxy Note10+ 5G: 0.19
- Samsung Galaxy Note10: 0.21
- Samsung Galaxy A80: 0.22
- Samsung Galaxy A72: 0.23
- LG G7 ThinQ: 0.24
- Samsung Galaxy S20 FE: 0.24
- Samsung - Galaxy M20 (2019): 0.25
- Honor - Honor 7A 2018: 0.26
- Samsung - Galaxy S10 5G: 0.26
- LG - LG G8X ThinQ: 0.27
- Motorola Razr 5G: 0.27
- Samsung - Galaxy A50: 0.27
- Sony Mobile - Xperia 5 II: 0.27
- ZTE - Blade V10 Vita: 0.28
- Motorola Razr: 0.29
- Samsung - Galaxy Note10 Lite: 0.29
- Huawei - Y7 2019: 0.3
- ZTE - BLADE A610: 0.31
- ZTE - Blade V9: 0.32
- LG - LG K50: 0.32
- LG - LG Q60: 0.32
- Huawei - P30: 0.33
- Huawei - Y6 2019: 0.33
- LG - LG V40 ThinQ: 0.33
- Samsung - Galaxy A32 5G: 0.33
- Samsung - Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G: 0.33
- Motorola One Vision: 0.34
- ZTE - Blade L8: 0.35
- ZTE - Axon 7: 0.35
- Samsung - Galaxy A52: 0.35
- Samsung - Galaxy A20s: 0.35
- Samsung - Galaxy J7 (2016): 0.35
- LG - Wing: 0.35
- Samsung - Galaxy Note20: 0.35
- ZTE - Blade A7 2020: 0.36
- ZTE - BLADE V7: 0.36
- Honor - Honor 7S: 0.36