This year, there will be more connections to satellites
Francesco Grilli, vice president of Qualcomm, writes a message on a partially transparent brick of a smartphone in a desert area 30 minutes away from the Strip’s glitz. He then holds the phone up to the heavens. The text he had just sent is received on his conventional smartphone moments later.
It was a dull scene. The interesting part, the satellite that received the message and routed it via a normal phone, was far away at 485 miles above the ground.
The same parts of satellite connectivity were found in that brick. They will be appearing in new smartphones in the second half of 2023. They won’t be chunky than normal. Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon stated that devices using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon satellite technology, unlike Apple iPhones which only offer satellite service in the event of an emergency, will be able to send standard text messages via satellite, and not just to emergency responders, as Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon told The Washington Post.
He said, “For you be able to tell me, ‘No Matter where I am, i can send a message, and I am connected.’ That’s powerful.”
The push for satellite communications, powered by Iridium Communications’ partnership, isn’t a new idea.
The Emergency SOS via satellite feature has been activated in six countries. The partnership between TMobile and Elon Musk’s SpaceX should bear fruit in the coming year. AT&T is currently exploring phone to satellite connectivity through an outfit called AST SpaceMobile.
