Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, implored Apple in a statement on Thursday to activate the dormant FM radio chips inside older models of iPhones to allow people to access life-saving information when natural disasters knock out wireless networks. “It is time for Apple to step up to the plate and put the safety of the American people first,” the press release read, in part.
The majority of smartphones contain FM radio chips, but they are often disabled. In a speech before the North American Broadcasters Association in February, Pai said, “As of last fall, only about 44 percent of the top-selling smartphones in the United States have activated FM chips.” It’s a bit of an opaque statistic—it doesn’t mean that 44 percent of smartphones in actual use have activated chips. But iPhones accounted for 41.2 percent of smartphones by sales volume (about 10 million devices) in the third quarter of 2016. IPhones without headjacks—that is, the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 8—don’t even have the chips, though.
The Verge speculates that companies most likely do not want to activate chips because FM radio capabilities would discourage users from paying for music streaming and extra data. However, Samsung, LG, HTC, and other major manufacturers have enabled FM services in their phones. It is unclear why Apple in particular has neglected to follow suit, though a spokesperson for the company sent Slate this statement:
Apple cares deeply about the safety of our users, especially during times of crisis and that’s why we have engineered modern safety solutions into our products. Users can dial emergency services and access Medical ID card information directly from the Lock Screen, and we enable government emergency notifications, ranging from Weather Advisories to AMBER alerts. 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.
Pai has in the past called on manufacturers to activate these chips, and is now reiterating his request in the aftermath of recent hurricanes. Harvey felled 70 percent of cell towers in Texas’s hardest-hit counties, and Irma incapacitated up to 81 percent of cell towers in certain counties in Florida. Yet the Republican-appointed chairman, known for his aggressively free market approach to FCC regulations in the debate over net neutrality, has declined to mandate that smartphone companies flip the switch.
