Ditching Of FM Radio Stereo Feature On Modern Flagship Android Devices, A Hit Or A Miss?

In the past, FM radio stereo used to be one of the mainstream features of both mid-range and flagship android devices from different phone OEM.

The likes of Samsung, HTC, Sony, Huawei, Xiaomi etc. that are known to manufacture high-end mobile devices have in the past featured FM radio stereo on their flagship devices, but as time goes on these OEMs began ditching the FM radio stereo feature on their newer flagship devices, thereby now delivering loads of high-end devices without the FM radio feature in the mobile market.

Taking for example, the Samsung OEM; we all know that for long now, Samsung have maintained two major categories of flagship devices, which are the Samsung Galaxy S-series and the Samsung Galaxy Note series.

On the course of Samsung flagship device manufacturing, for the Samsung Galaxy S-series, Samsung began ditching the FM radio stereo feature from Samsung Galaxy S4, making the Samsung Galaxy S3 the last Samsung S-series device to feature FM radio.

While on the Samsung Galaxy Note flagship category, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 marked the end of era for Samsung Galaxy Note series device with the FM radio stereo feature, as other Samsung Galaxy Note series thereafter, 5 years and counting are being produced without FM radio.

Same can be seen on flagship devices from other OEM listed above; as time goes on, they began ditching the FM stereo feature on their newer flagship devices, filling the market now with high-end smartphones without FM radio.

LG might be an exception here, for even LG latest flagship devices like their older ones still come with the FM radio stereo feature and they are not ditching it yet. This can easily be seen in the LG G6 and the current flagship LG V30 devices that still featured FM stereo.

Now for those OEMs that have completely ditched the FM radio stereo feature and have since formed trend of manufacturing flagship devices without FM radio, on how their fans and customers have taken this new trend is still a serious subject of debate.

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For us here, the rationale behind ditching of FM radio stereo feature by those OEM is something we are fully yet to come to terms with; is that those OEM now believe that people no longer enjoy tuning and listening to their favourite FM radio stations, or that they now consider the FM radio as a needless obsolete feature, since internet radio is readily available for all?

Or could it be that over the years, the OEMs have been carrying out surveys and getting feedbacks from fans, and one of the features that most customers found less important is the FM radio stereo and thus the ditching of FM radio stereo from new flagship devices?

But the big question here remains; do you see this trend of ditching FM radio stereo feature on android flagship devices as a hit or miss, is it a welcome development or do you still have the FM radio nostalgic feelings and believe that there should be a reversal of the current trend?