That the NextRadio FM-listening smartphone app with activated FM-reception chips will soon be available on Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge is “a very big breakthrough” for the technology that Emmis Communications helped develop, said Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan on a Thursday earnings call. The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are “the top-selling phones in the world” and will soon have NextRadio available “across all wireless carriers" in the U.S., Smulyan said. It marks the first time that “major phones” with NextRadio “will be available on every carrier,” he said. NextRadio also signed on Home Depot as its first paying advertiser last quarter, and is working with “a number of other test advertisers,” he said. Landing additional NextRadio ad and carrier support “is the catalyst that we believe our industry desperately needs,” he said. “We think it is a game changer and we think it simplifies the pretty remarkable progress that we are making with NextRadio.” But Apple has been a longstanding NextRadio holdout (see 1504140047) and still refuses to activate the FM chips in its iPhones, Smulyan acknowledged in Q&A. “We still need Apple, and we like Apple.” That NextRadio will soon be available on all Android phones, “among all the carriers,” means the technology will have penetrated more than 175 million smartphones in the U.S., about 62 percent of all the U.S. phones available, he said. That’s an opportunity “to change the landscape of radio forever,” he said. “We have said we won't quit until we have everybody, and the last everybody is Apple.” Apple didn't comment Friday.

BlackBerry is phasing out the BlackBerry Classic, said Chief Operating Officer Ralph Pini in a blog post Tuesday. “To keep innovating and advancing our portfolio, we are updating our smartphone lineup with state of the art devices,” said Pini, turning attention to BlackBerry 10 and Android devices. The BlackBerry Classic, “an incredible workhorse,” exceeded expectations but long surpassed the average lifespan for a smartphone in today’s market, Pini said. BlackBerry will give customers “something better” that maintains BlackBerry’s “legacy in security,” he said. Pini advised Classic users to check with their carriers for device availability or to buy the Classic unlocked online. “We continue to actively support BlackBerry 10 with software updates and are on track to deliver version 10.3.3 next month with a second update to follow next year,” Pini said.

Huawei’s latest flagship P9 and P9 Plus smartphones are using Skyworks’ SkyOne Ultra 2.0 integrated filters and SkyBlue technology, antenna tuners, power management devices and multi-throw switches, said Skyworks Monday. The company is “addressing carrier aggregation challenges and increasing frequency bands, while minimizing board size and optimizing battery life for reduced time to market,” said Carlos Bori, vice president-sales and marketing.

Fast charging, wireless charging and augmented and virtual reality functionality will be the top three smartphone “technologies and capabilities whose developments and transformations” through 2017 that no vendor can “ignore,” Gartner said Wednesday in an online Q&A with its research director, Roberta Cozza. Though the “current appearances” of AR and VR are new, “better display technology, improvements in sensing and tracking hardware and software for things such as motion, gesture, head and eye tracking, and real-time graphics will increase interest and adoption,” Cozza said. Burgeoning developments in 360-degree and depth-sensing imaging “will provide enhancements to and the availability of environmental mapping capabilities,” she said. “In addition, 3D and 360-degree imaging devices can further accelerate this trend.” Head-mounted displays using AR and VR are expected to sell 40 million units by 2020, “which provides the highest revenue opportunity, together with smartwatches,” she said.

AT&T sold fewer handset upgrades but more protection since it began selling smartphones at full price without subsidies, said AT&T Senior Vice President Steve Hodges Wednesday at the Baird 2016 Global Consumer, Technology & Services Conference in New York. AT&T previously sold expensive phones at what appeared to be low prices, subsidizing the high cost with higher service rates. But today, customers pay either full price upfront or smaller monthly payments over time. In the live-streamed presentation, Hodges said the increased transparency about price has meant consumers better understand the value of their devices and take more care to extend their lifespans. AT&T had its lowest handset upgrade rate ever in Q1, but the company also sold more cases, screen protectors and handset insurance, he said. “There was this unintended element of people seeing the value and all of the sudden starting to take care of it differently.” But “iconic” phone launches could still sway consumers to buy the latest model, said Hodges. “This is like global warming -- I don't know. It's just a tough one to predict.” Also in the presentation, Hodges said AT&T sees IoT, the Cricket brand and expansion into Mexico as big growth opportunities. Most connected cars are on the AT&T network, he said. Cricket, which targets “low-end” customers seeking value, has strong average revenue per user, he said. And Mexico is a market of 80 million people that also gives AT&T the capability to provide roaming between the U.S. and its southern neighbor, “a powerful proposition,” he said.

Expanding access to over-the-air radio for smartphones would increase the effectiveness of wireless emergency alerts, NAB told the FCC Public Safety Bureau in a meeting last week, said an ex parte filing Wednesday in docket 15-91. “Most WEA messages include text directing consumers to 'Check Local Media' for more information and instructions,” NAB said. “Simplifying the connection between WEA messages and the FM radio already available in many smartphones would be a logical extension of this current practice.” While a mobile device is tuned to radio, it's also minimizing battery drain and not burdening local cell networks, NAB said.

Microsoft will spend $200 million in severance payments to “streamline” its smartphone hardware business and eliminate up to 1,850 jobs, the company said in a Wednesday announcement. Up to 1,350 of the jobs cut will be at Microsoft Mobile Oy in Finland, plus up to 500 additional jobs globally, it said. “We are focusing our phone efforts where we have differentiation -- with enterprises that value security, manageability and our Continuum capability, and consumers who value the same,” CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement. “We will continue to innovate across devices and on our cloud services across all mobile platforms.” The latest action comes a week after Microsoft said it’s selling its feature phone business to Hon Hai/Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile and HMD global Oy for $350 million, which IHS said “highlights Microsoft’s continued failure in mobile” (see 1605180033).

The FCC fined a Florida man $48,000 for allegedly using an illegal cellphone jammer in his car during his daily commute from Seffner to Tampa, Florida. Jason Humphreys was featured in a 2014 article in Slate. He got fed up with seeing drivers using their cellphones contrary to Florida law and took matters into his own hands, creating a no-call zone around his vehicle, the publication reported. The FCC said it handed down a proposed fine in April 2014 and Humphreys never responded. “Mr. Humphreys’ illegal operation of the jamming device continued for up to two years, caused actual interference to cellular service along a significant portion of Interstate 4, and disrupted police and other emergency communications,” the FCC said in a notice. "Staff spoke to Mr. Humphreys once but was disconnected, and he did not answer staff’s call to him immediately thereafter," a footnote to the order said.

Global smartphone sales jumped 3.9 percent in Q1 to 349 million units despite Apple’s first-ever double-digit iPhone sales decline, Gartner said in a Thursday report. Apple’s iPhone sales declined 14 percent in the quarter, it said. Demand for low-cost smartphones in emerging markets and for affordable 4G smartphones drove much of the industry’s Q1 sales growth, the research firm said. “In a slowing smartphone market where large vendors are experiencing growth saturation, emerging brands are disrupting existing brands' long-standing business models to increase their share," it said. "With such changing smartphone market dynamics, Chinese brands are emerging as the new top global brands.” Samsung widened its market-share lead by more than two percentage points over Apple from a year earlier to 23.2 percent vs. 14.8 percent, but both brands lost share from a year earlier, Gartner said. Android increased its share over iOS to 84.1 percent vs. 14.8 percent (compared with 78.8 percent vs. 17.9 percent a year earlier), it said. But despite Android’s “advancements and its dominant market share, the challenges of profitability remain for a number of Android players,” Gartner said. “This will have an impact on the vendor landscape where new or more innovative business models will increasingly become key to succeed."

The iPhone will experience weaker-than-expected demand through the September quarter as consumers continue to delay purchases of new iPhones ahead of the expected iPhone 7 launch that month, Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley said in a research note Tuesday. Canaccord forecasts iPhone sales in the U.S. will fall below 50 percent of total smartphone sales in the June quarter “for the first time since the larger screen iPhone 6 products launched.” Replacement rates likely will continue to shrink but recover when the iPhone 7 is available this fall, Walkley said. Longer term, due to the success of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s in attracting Android switchers, Walkley believes Apple’s installed base of 500 million users at the end of 2015 -- and the company's connected devices universe of more than a billion users -- “should drive strong future iPhone replacement sales and earnings.” Despite anticipating softer iPhone sales for the next couple of quarters, Canaccord believes the “growing, loyal, and sticky iPhone installed base provides Apple with long-term opportunities” to drive growth through additional products, services and software sales, said Walkley, who maintained a “buy” rating on the company's stock.