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.

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?

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.

https://www.yugatech.com

89 Comments

Aldrin says:

17 years ago

Every once in a while, I ask this question to my peers as well in a joking way. I think it’s a good feature a phone to have, since I rarely see or heard news nowadays.
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ricky says:

17 years ago

i highly agree with you. AM feature will be so useful here in the Philippines (i dont know with other countries) esp for its wider range of news update and topic discussions (in diff languages/dialects as well, tagalog, english, bisaya, ilocano, chinese..name it.

and for the liking of the old folks, it has radio drama programs, classic songs and kundimans.

it is highly informative and entertaining as well. indeed, a productive way to ‘kill’ time.

so to you, nokia designers and engineers, if you are reading this, i dont think it would be costly for your billion-dollar empire to put that simple feature in your future mobile designs. i dont think its costly nor complicated to add that little piece of hardware in your gadgets.

with this feature, tech-savvy pip aside, those old folks and tech-resistant pips will be a great potential to add up to your more than 65% world mobile market dominion.
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eman says:

17 years ago

I agree. Personaly, I want this for news. There are times that news is important compare to regular music via FM or mp3 songs.
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ACS says:

17 years ago

I cannot agree more. I think the feature would be really useful, not just on mobile phones but on mp3 players that have an FM tuner as well. Lord knows I sometimes want to listen to the news during my morning and evening commutes.
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sultanjr says:

17 years ago

Having AM radio on a phone is an idea that Nokia and the other phone makers should seriously consider. AM radio is especially helpful during emergency situations like typhoons and other natural disasters, aside from regular news broadcasts. My phones all have FM radios but I don’t really use them. I use the flashlight on one of my phones more often than the FM radio it has.
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joseph says:

17 years ago

I just can imagine senior citizens taking the public transport, all their headsets plugged in to their ears. I myself wondered why phones do not have AM tuners. Kinda dyahe to bring a walkman just to listen to AM.
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cris says:

17 years ago

i agree with that. since most cellphones don’t have a tv tuner yet, having an AM radio signal would be very useful in getting news.
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Rico says:

17 years ago

Ok. Let me get this straight. With all the hi-tech stuff that surround phone engineers, they can’t make a phone with BOTH FM and AM?

Speaking of the demand, my phones have photo and music editors that I don’t use. Are they saying that there’s a demand for these features?

It would be best if they just put both AM and FM in. I thinks it’s that pricey. Plus it will be nice to have an AM option you know!
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Rico says:

17 years ago

I mean “I think itâ€™s not that pricey” above. Sorry for the typo.
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eric says:

17 years ago

I guess AM band should be added as a feature on new mobile units. there are just times that we need to update ourselves with the latest news but cant stay long enough inside the house, or got no time to scan the broadsheets, or browse the news sites.
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