
The WEEE Directive is upheld by 27 states in the European Union and represents their desire that devices like the iPhone be disposed of in an environmentally friendly way, rather than thrown in the trash as electronic waste. The next symbol, a garbage can with an X through it, indicates compliance with the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive.

#Trash x symbol code
The FCC ID consists of a three-letter grantee code (Apple's is BCG) followed by a model number. The iPhone also carries an FCC ID, another indicator that it's gotten the FCC's approval for operation. Not all TCBs handle all kinds of devices, but if the device isn't FCC-approved, as you might guess, it has no business in the United States. The FCC appoints a number of Telecommunications Certification Bodies (TCBs) that can review and grant applications for FCC certification. Looking through all of the stipulations the FCC places on gadgets, its heart is not easily won-everything from the the output power of the directional beams of an antenna system to what radio bands it can operate in is covered. This symbol, an F and a C nested within a C, confers the approval of the US Federal Communications Commission. We dove into hundreds of pages of regulations to see what the iPhone's various tramp stamps mean. Most of these symbols indicate only that the iPhone has received approval to use the various frequency spectra reserved for mobile and wireless communications and that it has passed various safety checks. What distinction do they mean? Compatibility with different radio frequencies? Recyclability? Edibility? I know what 16GB means what about the rest?Ī jumble of symbols have been trying to communicate with us from the back of the iPhone since it launched, and indeed, from a number of other non-Apple communication devices.

Question: There are a bunch of symbols and numbers on the backs of iPhones. To submit your own question, see our helpful tips page.

Each week, we'll dig into our bag of questions, answer a few based on our own know-how, and then we'll turn to the community for your take. "Ask Ars" was one of the first features of the newly-born Ars Technica back in 1998.
