- Zoe Kleinman
- Technology Editor
A new partnership between satellite phone company Iridium and chip giant Qualcomm will provide satellite connectivity to Android smartphones later this year.
This means that mobile phones can connect to passing satellites to send and receive messages, in places where there is no mobile phone coverage.
Qualcomm chips are found in many Android smartphones.
Apple announced the availability of the satellite feature for the iPhone 14 in September 2022.
However, the service is currently only available for sending and receiving basic text messages in emergency situations.
British smartphone maker Bullitt was the first to launch its own satellite service, beating out Apple. It’s also for emergency use, and will be available in select regions when it first rolls out.
The new partnership will provide the same service to millions of other smartphone users, without linking them to a specific brand, but it will be up to the manufacturer to enable it.
Iridium represents the original satellite phone system, sending the first satellite into orbit in 1997. It completed modernizing its network of 75 spacecraft in 2019.
The satellites cover the entire globe and fly in low orbit, about 485 miles (780 km) above Earth, and groups of them can communicate with each other and pass data between them.
Qualcomm said that initially, the new feature, called Snapdragon Satellite, will only be integrated into its premium chipset, so it is unlikely to appear in budget devices.
But it will eventually roll out to tablets, laptops and even vehicles, and it will also become a service that is not limited to emergency communications, although there will likely be a fee for that.
Satellite communication is widely seen as the next target for mobile phones, as it addresses the problem of areas where there is no existing coverage. These tend to be more common in rural or remote locations.
It has already been successfully deployed to provide broadband coverage through services such as Elon Musk’s Starlink.
Broadband services via satellite are generally fast and reliable, but are more expensive than cable or fiber connections.
Use of the feature will be subject to local government regulations, as countries such as India and China ban the use of satellite phones.