This year, there will be more connections to satellites

Some satellite features have a catch: You have to either be an iPhone owner or pay T-Mobile for wireless service. Qualcomm and Iridium have different visions. Any phone maker who purchases the premium chipsets can connect to Iridium’s satellites.

Qualcomm chipsets are used in many smartphones sold by Motorola, Samsung and other brands around the globe, so more people will soon be able send messages from cellular dead areas.

However, this does not mean that anyone will be able to use the feature on any Qualcomm-powered smartphone. It will only be available in smartphones that run Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Generation 2 chipset. This high-powered package is meant for premium smartphone models. Qualcomm plans to integrate satellite connectivity into phones and chipsets that are more affordable over time, but Amon wouldn’t say when.

Some of the first smartphones that use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipet were sold abroad, long before the satellite features go live. Although the early devices have many radio components that can talk to Iridium’s satellites they don’t contain all the necessary ones. This means they cannot be updated to include satellite features.

You might want to wait a bit if you are considering buying an Apple smartphone but still want to be able to get in touch with friends and family even if you don’t have a cell phone tower nearby.

The wait could be worth it, though, and this is largely thanks to Iridium. McLean, Va.-based Iridium has been placing satellites in orbit since the late 1990s. Because the satellites are oriented around Earth, you can fire off a message from research stations in Antarctica, the middle of the Indian Ocean, or anywhere else.

Matthew Desch, CEO of Iridium, stated that there is no spot on Earth without coverage

If you don’t have a clear sky, you can send satellite messages as long as there is no government ban. This includes Iran and North Korea.

Apple’s Emergency SOS via Satellite, on the other hand, is only available in the United States, Canada and Britain as well as France, Germany, France, Germany, Ireland, and a small area of coastal water surrounding them if any. Even if your iPhone 14 is capable of communicating with satellites, it won’t work unless you are physically located in one of these countries.
 
It seems attractive to be able to keep in touch with anyone in the world using a basic (but expensive) smartphone. But how do you actually use it?

It really depends on the task at hand. There are two options if you need to reach out to help without cellular networks: Either from the lock screen of your phone or by calling emergency services. There may be other places on your phone where you can initiate an SOS but Qualcomm will make the final decision.

The messages will then be sent to Texas’ Garmin response center. This is where the operators will gather information and coordinate with emergency responders. However, the costs are not set in stone. Qualcomm’s Grilli stated that emergency messages will “not be very expensive”, if at all.

For person-to-person messages, the story is slightly different. You can send a message via satellite by simply typing your message and following an on-screen guide. This will ensure that your phone is pointed at a satellite. Desch, Iridium CEO, stated that each satellite completes an orbit in approximately 100 minutes. It shouldn’t take more that eight to twelve minutes for one to move into range.

These messages will almost certainly cost you, but it is not yet clear how much. Qualcomm will make this decision for both device manufacturers and messaging services like WhatsApp and Telegram that embrace satellite communication.

It is not yet clear how customers will be allowed to choose from different satellite services, if they have more than one.
While key questions regarding the cost and experience of satellite communications remain, Qualcomm and Iridium look forward to the next step. They want to ensure that satellite communication is not limited to our smartphones.

Amon stated, “We discussed phones, but it’s not why it couldn’t be you laptop,” before turning his attention towards another important class of products. Think about being able to alert the authorities that an airbag has been deployed or call emergency services. Or to remotely unlock your car.

It’s unclear at this time if Qualcomm or Iridium are actively seeking out the General Motors and Dells of the world. The wait for satellites to be integrated with other products that we depend on every day may be shorter than what you might think.

Amon stated, “It’s not unreasonable to believe that we could have other types [supported] devices by next year.” “We are working on it.”