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Why mobile phones have no AM Radio?

About a year ago, I asked the guys at Nokia Singapore why they don’t have AM radio tuners to pair with the millions of FM tuner capable phones they develop. I thought the answer was in the north of physics, something that had to do with frequency modulation and amplitude modulation. I guessed wrong.

The truth is, it’s largely got to do with market demand. Who would want to use AM radio on their phones? I told them, AM radio is still hot and raging in the Philippines especially with regular folks that listen to news.

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The other day, one of those blind masseurs in the malls told me he’s been waiting this one great feature a mobile phone should have — an AM radio. I agreed and told him about my earlier discussion with the people from Nokia.

I myself very rarely use the FM tuner on my phone. I already have an iPod and a Zune to get my dose of music. More often than not, I tune in to one of the AM radio stations that rebroadcasts TV Patrol or GMA News in my car at around 6:30PM. I think this might also be true to other people as well.

Actually, there are some phones that both have AM radio (e.g. Sony Ericsson R300i, R306i) but if they could put FM tuners on half of the phones sold each year, why not just add AM tuner to it?

Why don’t we ask readers if they’d prefer AM radio or FM radio on their mobile phones?

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

89 Responses

  1. Avatar for Boy Barog Boy Barog says:

    Back in the day, I used to have SE R300 am radio attached on its headset, but it only lasted 1.5 years of use & after that, no one, even SE were selling am radio headset unfortunately. I guess there were some AM radio phones like cherry mobile entry level like SE 300 before. So far I am using data on my phone to stream those AM stations.Hopefully another phone company will cater this feature on their phone, like dataless listening something like that.

  2. Avatar for Alvin Alvin says:

    I am doing research anywhere I can find on this question too. Anybody know the cost of adding the AM radio in the cellphone? Is it high cost, is that why they don’t want to put AM radio? Please keep us updated. Many thanks!

  3. Avatar for Joan Joan says:

    I only listwn to am radio so better have a pphone capable with news

  4. Avatar for TD TD says:

    Workaround is to use internet radio catering to several AM radio stations. But then, you need a faster internet access, say LTE to have a seamless listening experience.

  5. Avatar for Paulo Larracas Paulo Larracas says:

    It is becauae the AM frequency uses more power and has an unstable connection most of the time but I need AM on my phone too

  6. Avatar for Emmanuel Gonzalez Emmanuel Gonzalez says:

    first of all, thanks for coming up with an article about this. I also had the same thought why not come up with an AM Radio feature. As an avid AM radio listener, it would be good for phones to have this feature as AM radios are vital in times of natural calamities and typhoons as they give updates and sometimes devote their airtime to give information on what’s happening. Not only that, it would be of great help and service for our commuters to tune in and get the latest news on the go.

  7. Avatar for Arnel Arnel says:

    i think AM radio tuner will eat a lot of space unlike the FM that’s why they don’t put such a feature to smartphones.

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