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The reason why FM receivers are present on smartphones is that they can be used to locate your position by noting a simple thing as signal strength of transmitters. More advanced methods makes use of SNR, frequency deviation and multipath interference characteristics. And the same method can be used for WiFi which of course makes collection of such data very useful for localization purposes where GPS etc isn't useful. Arrival time of a radio signal that is reported to the operator from many devices may also be used for the same purpose.
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Smartphone with FM Radio Tells Your Position
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(Score: 2, Insightful) by Zinho on Wednesday May 21 2014, @04:25PM
Huh, I'd have thought FM receivers were included because people wanted to listen to the radio...
Considering that the paper linked in the summary is an investigation into the feasibility of using FM radio reception as a locator for the phone, the headline may be a bit sensationalistic. If we're still looking into whether it's possible I doubt the receiver was put there because of its utility in locating me.
That being said, I'm not sure how much good this technique would be on my phone, given that it has no FM antenna and uses my earphone wires as a substitute. It's not going to get much of a signal if I'm not listening to music. Further, before I get paranoid about my FM radio giving away my position I'd better turn off the GPS receiver and location service in my phone's OS. =P
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