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FCC Chief Tells Apple To Turn on iPhone's FM Radio Chip (cnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the fair-concern dept.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai pushed Apple on Friday to activate the FM radio chips in the iPhone. From a report: In the wake of three major hurricanes that have wiped out communications for millions of people over the past month, Pai issued a statement urging Apple, one of the largest makers of cellphones in the US, to "reconsider its position, given the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria." FM radios that are already included in every phone could be used to access "life-saving information" during disasters, he said. For years the majority of smartphones sold in the US have included FM radios, but most of them have been turned off so that you couldn't use the function. Why? Mobile customers would be a lot less likely to subscribe to streaming music services if they could just listen to traditional, free broadcast radio. This incentive is especially true for Apple, which has a streaming music service. Apple said in a statement: "iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models do not have FM radio chips in them nor do they have antennas designed to support FM signals, so it is not possible to enable FM reception in these products."

10 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Turn it on, will not work by WillRobinson · · Score: 5, Informative

    No internal antenna.

    1. Re:Turn it on, will not work by freeze128 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Head of FCC tells Apple to bring back the headphone jack. That's what the headline should say.

    2. Re:Turn it on, will not work by TexasDiaz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      When Apple removed the audio jack in the iPhone 7, they removed the ability to plug in an antenna to the device - in Android devices, you have to plug wired headphones into the audio jack to act as the antenna for the radio. But why would the FCC chairman blow smoke out his bunghole without speaking directly to them first? Is it some unwritten requirement that they have to publicly shame themselves rather than putting on their big-boy pants and actually directly talking to someone? It seems like if you're the head of the FCC you can find a technical contact at Apple to speak to before being an ass about it.

  2. Television? by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When I was in Korea a few years back I was intrigued to see everyone on the subway watching OTA broadcast TV on their phones. This wasn't "streaming" video coming in over their data plan - The phones and tablets had antennas that extended from them and they were watching broadcast TV.

    1. Re:Television? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Informative

      This is called 1seg. Started in Japan, it's low quality 12 FPS video but easier and more reliable to receive on the move. Many cars have it, I was really surprised to see people watching TV while driving.

      The name of because it uses one segment of the available digital TV spectrum. It trades quality for extra error correction and redundancy.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  3. Nothing to do with streaming services by Guspaz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    iPhones were shipping with the FM support disabled long before Apple Music or Spotify existed.

  4. The Cluelessness of the FCC Chair is Amazing! by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In order to get FCC Approval, Apple has to submit not only samples of their "production-ready" Phones; but full documentation, including SCHEMATICS and SPECIFICATIONS...

    TO THE FUCKING FCC!!!

    But now, that same Clue-Free MORON has the temerity to attempt to make Apple look like "Bad Guys" that have simply REFUSED to "turn on" that which does not exist!

    And he Bloody-Well SHOULD have known that, BEFORE he even made his "Demand"!!!

    FFS! Our Tax Dollars at Work...

  5. Re:tell them ALL to do it by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Tell Samsung, Tell Pixel, Tell Motorola, tell ALL the smartphone manufactures to turn on the FM radio chip so i can at least get local broadcast FM radio music, news and weather

    Many of those devices already to have their FM radios enabled, but lack software to drive them. I use the free NextRadio app on my Kyocera Hydro Vibe and it works great. It uses the headphone wire as an antenna, so they (or a speaker) must be plugged it, but you can also output through the built-in speaker.

    Here's the official list of supported devices. Note that my device wasn't listed when I first installed the app, but it worked anyway. I sent some feed back telling them it worked and my device is now listed.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  6. Re:tell them ALL to do it by jwhyche · · Score: 3, Informative

    I have a samsung S7 and I can't believe that actually worked.

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  7. Re:tell them ALL to do it by freeze128 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I was curious about NextRadio so I installed it. My device (LG G2) wasn't on the supported list, but it detected my location, and showed me my local FM stations. They played great.... I was suspicious.

    So I turned off WiFi and Mobile data, and the stations stopped dead. This fucker was ***STREAMING*** audio to my phone over a data connection, not using the FM tuner. Also, for some reason, it needs access to your files and photos.

    Unsurprisingly, I uninstalled it.