After Starlink-T-Mobile Announcement: Will Apple Introduce Satellite Communications for the iPhone Tomorrow?

taketonews

• Starlink and T-Mobile bring fast Internet to US smartphones
• Also MediaTek and Huawei with first successes
• Is Apple now following suit?

Starlink and T-Mobile customers should be able to “stay connected almost anywhere”.

The Starlink satellite network, operated by Tesla boss Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX, provides its customers with Internet via satellite connections, which are characterized by a fast connection regardless of the expansion of the cable network. SpaceX recently announced its intention to bring satellite Internet to smartphones as part of a cooperation with the network provider T-Mobile US. Starlink and the Deutsche Telekom subsidiary also want to enable customers outside of the T-Mobile network in the USA to access the Internet, as stated in an announcement. “The service will be offered in beta in select territories beginning late next year after SpaceX’s planned satellite launch. Text messaging, including SMS, MMS and participating messaging apps, will allow customers to stay connected and experience almost anywhere.” After that, the companies plan to expand voice and data coverage,” SpaceX informed at the end of August.

MediaTek and Huawei are also working on satellite communications

But the smartphone manufacturers themselves are apparently also working on concepts that will provide their customers with a fast Internet connection almost anywhere and anytime. For example, the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer MediaTek announced in August that it had connected to a satellite network in a laboratory environment for the first time with a commercial 5G smartphone. “With this test, MediaTek has successfully validated the ability to connect a 5G smartphone to satellite networks, opening the door for the development of 5G satellite networks to enable ubiquitous connectivity around the world,” said HC Hwang, General Manager of Wireless Communication System and Partnership at MediaTek, according to a press release. In addition, the Chinese hardware manufacturer Huawei will soon launch the Mate 50, a smartphone that can send text messages via a satellite system in an emergency, as tech analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently wrote in a “Medium” article.

Satellite communication also possible with the iPhone 14?

Apple’s popular smartphone series has so far lacked the satellite feature. “Bloomberg” strategist Mark Gurman reported at the end of 2019 that the NASDAQ giant had put together a team to deal with the topic. So far, however, there has been no official announcement. But that could change with the iPhone 14, which will likely be announced in tomorrow’s keynote, according to Kuo, who usually has a high hit rate on upcoming Apple products. Communication with satellites is said to have already been the subject of hardware tests that the iGroup successfully completed. “iPhone 14’s satellite communication mainly provides text and voice services for emergencies,” Kuo noted. “Whether the iPhone 14 will offer a satellite communications service depends on whether Apple and the carriers can agree on a business model.” This is also supported by the fact that the announcement of the Apple event under the motto “Far Out” (“Further Ahead”) shows the logo of the software and hardware manufacturer in a starry sky.

Launch of the iPhone 13 apparently missed

According to the analyst, the tech group based in Cupertino, California, could almost have played a pioneering role in the field of satellite communications. The necessary hardware infrastructure that enables the connection to satellites has already been developed for the iPhone 13, which came on the market last autumn. Due to the fact that the predecessor could not yet negotiate a business model with contractual partners, the introduction of the new function was postponed. During this time, however, competitors were apparently able to move up.

Possible collaboration between Apple and Globalstar

“It’s hard to predict exactly when iPhone will offer satellite communications service, but I believe it will eventually happen,” the analyst said in his post. Kuo has identified the US provider Globalstar as a possible contractual partner for Apple. “In the ecosystem of satellite communications services, satellite communications operators like Globalstar have the highest barriers to entry, which deserves close attention from investors,” the tech expert said. For Tim Farrar, consultant for satellite communications, a cooperation between Apple and Globalstar is a sure thing, as he explained in a series of tweets. So it’s no coincidence that Starlink and T-Mobile announced their joint venture shortly before the Apple keynote. “[…] Given how many half-finished concepts have been put forward, one can only conclude that this should pre-empt the announcement of Apple’s own free messaging service with Globalstar next week. This should start as soon as the new phone is released,” says Farrar.

Satellite communication becomes “essential feature”

However, it’s only a matter of time before the smartphone industry upgrades to satellite capabilities, Kuo said. “The efforts of MediaTek and Huawei are further evidence that satellite communications will likely eventually become a must-have feature of smartphones, including the iPhone.” Especially in the context of increasing natural disasters and geopolitical risks, it is becoming increasingly important that smartphones are increasingly equipped with communication channels for emergencies. In this context, he primarily mentioned communication via SMS and calls.

Shortly after the start of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, SpaceX boss Musk also announced via Twitter that the Starlink system was now also active in Ukraine. Shortly after, the company also delivered some Starlink receiving stations to the attacked country, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Digital Transformation, wrote on the short message service. “While Russia is blocking access to the Internet, Ukraine is opening up more and more to the whole world,” the politician tweeted.

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