Could the iPhone 14 Communicate with Satellites?

  A early study offers a more specific point of view on the furious "satellite iPhone" dispute from the previous year.

HIGHLIGHTS

• When Would All Phones Communicate with Satellites?
• What Kind of Modem Will Apple Use?

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According to a recent story from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the iPhone 14 may be able to transmit emergency SOS messages even when in cellular dead zones by employing satellite connectivity (Opens in a new window).

This is a more logical version of the hysterical rumours regarding satellite connectivity for the iPhone 13 that circulated at the time. These rumours proved to be untrue.

Instead, the upcoming iPhone and a prospective Apple Watch could include a device akin to a SPOT satellite tracker. According to Gurman, the system would enable people to report events and send text messages to emergency workers using satellite networks. However, Apple's breakthrough may be to miniaturise the technology to the point where it can fit into a phone. Up until now, devices with that capability have tended to be very large and discrete.

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When Would All Phones Communicate with Satellites?

Specialized satellite phones as well as smartphone attachments for connecting to satellites have been around for a while. Due to the fact that they require more radio power than a typical cell phone, they are frequently heavy and pricey. These interface with already-existing satellite constellations like the 876-mile-orbiting Globalstar constellation, which has been using CDMA encoding for 25 years.

However, the introduction of satellites in much lower orbits and less expensive launchers like the SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets have started to disrupt the game. Compared to farther away birds, very low orbit satellites like those utilised by Starlink are simpler to communicate with. It takes more of them to reliably cover any given land area, but this also considerably enhances the constellation's overall data capacity since more satellites equal more capacity. Starlink intends to orbit as low as 208 miles while currently circling at 340–350 miles.

Lynk and AST are the two key businesses focusing on offering your phone satellite connectivity. Both are still, in a sense, just getting started. In areas where such carriers don't have coverage, Lynk plans to partner with wireless carriers to provide backup service. In the middle of 2020, it intends to introduce service with telecom provider Aliv in the Bahamas.

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Consumers in the US shouldn't get too enthused just yet. According to news reports, Lynk has agreements in the Central African Republic, the Bahamas, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the Solomon Islands, and Mongolia (Opens in a new window). By 2025, the company hopes to offer global connection, according to the CEO's statement to Informa.

AST, which is still in testing mode, has a contract with international carrier Orange.

What Kind of Modem Will Apple Use?

The timing in this case might all line up in 2025, during what we can term the iPhone 17 cycle. Apple now powers its phones with Qualcomm modems, but the company is working on its own modems that it hopes to start integrating into iPhones in 2023 or 2024.

If Apple is planning ahead and incorporating satellite into its strategy, it may even strike its own global agreement with Lynk or AST and customise its modem for the carrier of its choice. As a result, 2025 might perhaps be the year with no dead zones.

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