FM Radio Now Activated in Half of Smartphones Sold in the U.S.

Broadcasters and authorities demand operators to activate new smartphones
Commercial broadcasters research unit PILOT has observed the activation of FM reception capabilities in popular smartphones since 2012, and has reported its findings throughout the period.Then the percentage of smartphones with FM reception capability was in the single digits. Now however, an important milestone has been reached. In the third quarter of 2016, the number of top-selling smartphones sold with FM reception capability enabled by at least one carrier has for the first time matched those sold without FM capability. 

Almost all of the Android smartphones sold during this period had FM reception capability enabled, and that nearly all (94%) of the smartphones sold without FM capability were Apple iPhones.

Virtually all smartphones (including iPhones) include the necessary hardware to receive FM, and so smartphones that do not include the activation of FM reception are purposely designed as such, in that they disable an inherently available capability due to a choice made by the devices’ manufacturer, platform manager or wireless carrier.

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