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FCC's Pai wants Apple to enable FM radio in iPhones

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FCC chairman Ajit Pai dove into Apple today for not enabling ‘hidden’ FM radio functions on iPhones. However, Apple has cited that the last two generations of iPhones don’t have FM radios at all.
The head of the FCC, Ajit Pai, today criticised the Cupertino-based giant for not enabling the FM radios on iPhones, which he believes are hidden on the device. He claimed that these dormant radios could be instrumental in times of crisis when mobile networks may be down, such as in the aftermath of natural disasters like the hurricanes ravaging the Atlantic coast of the United States in the last few weeks.
Pai’s comments come after years-long debates over smartphone manufacturers and carriers turning off the FM radios found on devices as they could potentially detract users from buying their own services and using internet data. While some phone companies have now started to get on board, Apple has never had FM support on its phones, which may be why Pai singled the company out.
Unfortunately for him, as Apple made clear in a subsequent statement, the most recent generations of the iPhone don’t have such a radio or any way of enabling the capability:
While Apple may have skirted around Pai’s criticism by referring to the lack of FM radios in the iPhone 7 and 8, it does conveniently forget to mention why that may be or, more importantly, why the company doesn’t at least enable the functionality on older phones that do have radio chips capable of receiving FM signals.
Beyond publicly shaming Apple, though, Pai is unlikely to strong-arm Apple or other tech companies into enabling the FM radios in their devices. Having already cited the limited jurisdiction of the FCC with respect to this matter, Pai has previously supported due to his belief in the free market approach, commenting, “As a believer in free markets and the rule of law, I cannot support a government mandate requiring activation of these [FM] chips.”
It remains to be seen as to how this argument will play out but with countries, such as Norway, having already switched away from FM radio to digital radio despite concerns regarding the switchover and impacts to emergency information broadcasts.
Source: Ajit Pai via Ars Technica

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