Samsung promised to enable FM Radio in Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus units, but it's still missing on the unlocked version of the smartphones.
Early this 2018, Samsung announced a partnership with NextRadio to unlock the FM Radio chip in Samsung Galaxy S9 devices sold in the United States and Canada. Now, the feature is working as intended on the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus units for the most part.
Those who got their smartphone from U.S. carriers shouldn't have any problems as NextRadio included these models in its supported devices list. However, those who bought the unlocked version seem to have been left out.
Unlocked Samsung Galaxy S9 And S9 Plus Don't Have FM Radio
The demand for FM Radio is not exactly staggering what with the on-demand music streaming services. However, it has some neat advantages, such as it being completely free. It is still a nice feature to have in one's phone for streaming songs from the users' favorite station.
As it turns out, the omission was simply a mistake.
"Samsung mistakenly did not add the NAB FM API to the unlocked devices," NextRadio explained.
"Our team confirmed this with them a couple of days after release upon receiving reports the app did not work. Samsung has said it will be in the first update they do, but have not yet settled on a date."
With that said, users with the unlocked Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus can wait for the upcoming update to fix their FM Radio woes.
Samsung Galaxy S9 128 GB Variant To Be Released?
In related news, a Samsung Galaxy S9 128 GB variant is set to be released in the Indian market. The new configuration fits nicely between the current offerings, as buyers might find 64 GB too low and 256 GB too high.
It is unknown, however, if the 128 GB variant will appear in the Western shores. After all, owners still have the choice of increasing their storage via the microSD slot by up to 400 GB.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus are currently available in two variants: 4 GB RAM/64 GB internal storage and 6 GB RAM/256 GB storage. It's one of the first to launch with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 under its hood, packing incredible speeds.
Samsung's flagship smartphones have a price tag that starts at $720 for the Galaxy S9 and $840 for the S9 Plus. Both models have four color options: Midnight Black, Lilac Purple, Titanium Gray, and Coral Blue.
