Who else is listening to FM stations using smartphones? In the era of Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services, radio stations have no easy life. Many people are also annoyed by frequent advertising breaks that prevent you from enjoying the music. However, in the case of weather disasters radio stations are the best way to reach out to people. Therefore, the American regulator wants Apple to restore the FM radio service on the iPhone smartphones.
The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is an organization regulating the use of frequencies in the United States. This regulator does not have much right to ask manufacturers to modify the devices already in use, but still decided to ask the smartphone manufacturers to activate the FM modules. It turns out that they are hidden in many smartphones. The problem is that during the natural catastrophes that haunt the United States, cellular base stations are damaged. Recent hurricane attacks have damaged 90% of Puerto Rico base stations and 67% of mobile transmitters in the US Virgin Islands. It is precisely in these emergency situations that the FM stations that are used to convey relevant information turn out to be irreplaceable. As you can see, the purpose of this request is noble. However, Apple, even if it wanted to, can not activate FM radio on some smartphones.
iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 are not capable of receiving FM radio signals.
It turns out that while older Apple smartphones have a hidden, but blocked by the manufacturer, the ability to receive FM stations, the newer models have left this option deprived. On the occasion of the iPhone 7 design, Cupertino engineers not only decided to remove the jack connector, but also got rid of the antenna and the FM receiver. For example, the older iPhone 6 has the Murata 339S0228 chip, which is responsible for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and also has FM reception option. On the other hand, the antenna for FM signals is hidden in almost every headphone connected to the smartphone mini jack. And here comes the problem, the lightning connector no longer allows you to use headphones as an FM antenna. While in the case of new devices the situation is clear, it is not known if Apple is willing to provide support for traditional radio on older devices. The Cupertino company has stated that the iPhone mobiles support state-of-the-art modern security solutions, including weather alerts.
Source: Reuters
