Good news, frugal music lovers. Word has it that future Samsung smartphones will have a new feature: FM radio.
The world’s largest Android smartphone maker has agreed to unlock the FM chip in upcoming handsets sold in the US and Canada, according to NextRadio, maker of an FM radio app. Samsung itself did not immediately respond to PCMag’s request for comment about NextRadio’s announcement.
NextRadio’s app leverages a phone’s built-in FM chip to broadcast local radio stations. The app also works on devices without an active FM chip by streaming local FM stations over the internet, which uses more battery and data.
“Samsung should be lauded for taking this important step,” NextRadio President Paul Brenner said in a statement. “They are providing their customers a more engaging, immersive radio experience and, as importantly, a means to connect with life-saving information in emergencies.”
The news comes after FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last February pushed for FM radio in US smartphones but argued that companies should not be forced to turn it on. “It seems odd that every day we hear about a new smartphone app that lets you do something innovative, yet these modern-day mobile miracles don’t enable a key function offered by a 1982 Sony Walkman,” Pai said at the time.
The majority of smartphones sold in this country contain FM chips, Pai pointed out. But, as of the fall of 2016, less than half of them had been activated.
The problem, according to Wired, is that phone manufacturers and carriers don’t have much incentive to turn them on. In fact, they have an incentive not to. Carriers, for instance, profit when you use up all your data streaming music.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 don’t even have FM radio chips, and Apple doesn’t exactly seem keen to enable them in older iPhones. Critics say Cupertino doesn’t want to challenge music-streaming services, including its own.
Source: PC Magazine | By Angela Moscaritolo | January 11, 2018 3:04PM EST | https://www.pcmag.com/news/358493/samsung-will-reportedly-unlock-fm-chip-in-future-smartphones
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