Samsung confirmed at CES 2018 that the Galaxy S9 flagship smartphone would be unveiled only in late February at MWC, just like many of its predecessors.
The phone is supposed to offer a slew of improvements compared to the Galaxy S8, in an otherwise “boring” design. But speaking of boring, a Galaxy S9 feature that’s hardly exciting was just confirmed.
It’s 2018, which means FM radio should be the least of your worries when buying a new smartphone. It’s not like you need FM radio to tap into any hot form of mobile entertainment. There’s surely an app for that.
But, if FM radio is something you desperately need in a phone like the Galaxy S9, you should know that Samsung will support it.
NextRadio said so in a press release earlier this week. It didn’t mention the Galaxy S9 directly, it needed more words to drive the point home, given that the Galaxy S9 isn’t official.
“Samsung, the largest Android handset maker in the world, is the latest device OEM to continue its support for NextRadio by unlocking the FM Chip in upcoming smartphone models in the US and Canada,” the release says.
What’s interesting about the release is that NextRadio mentions the US and Canada specifically, which seems to imply that international Galaxy S9 version will not get FM radio support.
One thing that FM radio might be useful for, and the press release does highlight it, is to provide life-saving information from radio stations in those areas where natural disasters regularly affect cellular coverage. Just a few months ago, the FCC urged Apple to activate FM chips inside existing iPhone models, even though that’s not technically possible.
