Nearly 100 Million iPhones Are in Use With Deactivated FM Chips, Says NAB

Nearly 100 million iPhones are in the market with a deactivated FM chip, NAB responded Friday to claims attributed to Apple in some publications that iPhone 7s and iPhone 8s don’t contain FM chips and can’t be enabled to receive FM signals. That was a day after FCC Chairman Ajit Pai called on Apple to activate the FM chips in its iPhones to promote public safety (see 1709280060), NAB has commissioned quarterly “tear down” reports on smartphones since 2012, and says iPhones “built during that time, including the iPhone 7,” have “a chipset that includes support for FM radio,” said the trade group. Apple also sells the iPhone 6S, which has a deactivated FM chip, NAB said. "We encourage Apple to activate this feature on their future handsets so Americans can have access to lifesaving information during emergency situations.” Pai’s urging Apple to activate FM chips “could foreshadow further use" by the FCC chairman of his "bully pulpit to correct what he views as market inefficiencies without imposing additional regulation,” blogged Wiley Rein broadcast attorney Ari Meltzer, though Meltzer said he didn’t feel Pai departed from his previous stance that such decisions should be left to the market. NextRadio “thoroughly supports” Pai’s call for “more manufacturers, including Apple, to activate the FM chip” in their smartphones to promote public safety, said the Emmis Communications subsidiary and originator of the FM reception smartphone app in a statement: “The utility and urgency of having access to FM broadcasts has never been more apparent given recent weather emergencies.” Apple didn’t comment.