Experts refute posts likening AirPods to microwave ovens

"AirPods = Baking your brain in a mini microwave oven," reads the Korean-language caption of an X video posted on March 3, 2025.

The clip, which has been viewed more than three million times, shows a man claiming that wearing Apple's wireless earbuds is "like wearing a mini microwave centimetres from your brain" because they emit the same 2.4 GHz frequency.

"It's the most efficient and effective frequency to heat up your food," he says. "So when you have these mini microwaves in your head, it can have the same effect on your brain, tissues and organs."

He then uses an electromagnetic field meter to measure their "dangerous frequency", and gives the radio power density of AirPods as 0.709 milliwatts per square metre.

He concludes by saying there is "research coming out showing strong correlations with brain tumours, brain fog, ADHD, and Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative conditions" as screenshots of paper abstracts flash up on screen.

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Screenshot of the false X post, captured on April 9, 2025

The video was also shared on Threads and Instagram.

AFP previously debunked a similar claim that AirPods are a source of harmful electromagnetic radiation.

Claims of harmful emissions from electronic devices have circulated since at least 2015 -- a year before Apple released its first wireless AirPods -- when a group of international scientists signed a letter calling for more study and guidelines on the health effects of non-ionising electromagnetic fields that can come from electronic devices (archived here and here).

While the World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged that the issue had become a focus of health concerns, it said there is "no evidence to conclude that exposure to low level electromagnetic fields is harmful to human health" (archived link).

'Significantly lower power'

Experts who spoke to AFP also dismissed the claim that using wireless earbuds was like having a microwave oven near one's head.

"That's nonsense," Wang Sung-sik, professor of electric and electronic engineering at South Korea's Hanyang Cyber University, told AFP on April 8 (archived link).

"Natural light actually has a very high frequency, but it's not harmful," he said. "What matters is the power and whether a significant amount of energy is being transmitted."

He pointed out the radio power density measured in the video -- 0.709 milliwatts per square metre -- was not compared to the figure for a microwave.

The typical maximum exposure level of microwave ovens is 500 milliwatts per square metre, according to the WHO, or about 700 times higher than the figure for the AirPods (archived link).

Jungwook Jay Paek, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the State University of New York at Binghamton, said microwave ovens' operating frequencies are not the sole reason why they are able to heat food (archived link).

"The electromagnetic waves are emitted at high intensity and the oven's reflective interior amplifies wave exposure of food through multiple reflections, and the ovens are specifically designed to focus energy delivery onto the food," he told AFP in an April 6 email.

Paek said AirPods and similar devices that emit electromagnetic waves do so at "significantly lower power levels, lack reflective enclosures and are not engineered to focus electromagnetic energy on human tissues".

"That said, I should also mention that the potential long-term effects of chronic exposure to low-power electromagnetic fields from such devices remain uncertain and may require further scientific investigation," he added.

The research cited in the circulating video similarly suggests further scientific investigation of the effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields, rather than drawing a "strong correlation" to brain tumours and disorders.

Two studies cited that do suggest there may be a link were based on a review of papers about the possible effects of 5G exposure and a study carried out on albino rats.

AFP has debunked similar claims linking wireless networks and radio waves to health problems here and here.