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Who are you? This will be the largest advancement in cellular technology since the iPhone itself.

If this is even remotely used in the way the rumors are saying it will save lives, provide peace of mind, and be infinitely more useful than any additional pixel count on a camera.

Maybe you live in flatland, USA in the center of metropolis, but half of America doesn’t. Lack of reception is hugely frustrating. Being able to send a text will be a great first step.

Canceling InReach services that use satellites to text with your phone for 12+ bucks a month will be a welcome benefit as well.
I disagree. This is a useless idea and shows that Tim has none of his own and needs to go and go now!
 
If you are in a SOS situation in dead zone you could contact 911 in an emergency using satellite. Terrestrial cellular coverage isn’t available everywhere in North America for given carriers.
Same concept SpaceX teaming up with T-Mobile.
 
If I had a daughter and she went hiking or perhaps drove between two cities (where there was dessert or nothing much in between) like for college, say between LA and Phoenix I would upgrade her so FAST to the iPhone 14 it would make your head spin.

I have 2 daughters in school, who drive 2 hours between school and home when they visit. The second I saw this was potentially happening I knew I was buying a handful of new phones.
 
If true, this would be one of the greatest features for iPhone in years.

If only it was Apple teaming up with Elon. My fanboy meter would explode.
 
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Just this year alone, I have been to several cell signal dead zones:
  • Back country skiing in Lake Tahoe and Mammoth Lakes
  • Several famous hiking trails in Kauai
  • Hiking trails and campgrounds at Yosemite
  • Boating in the northern California Coasts
I would've loved to be able to iMessage in these areas.

Is it enough for me to upgrade from iPhone 13 Pro to iPhone 14 Pro? Probably not without a generous upgrade promo, but it's a great carrot nevertheless.

Places I go where connectivity is an issue:
  • Backpacking 3 times a year
  • Vacationing in Vermont
  • Living AT HOME (with Verizon, in a crowded suburb of Boston)
This would definitely make me upgrade my 12 Pro Max
 
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What mainstream problem does this solve? It seems like a minuscule edge case.

Catastropic events, when terrestrial infrastructure has literally disappeared.

E.g. during the flood in Germany last year, mobile base-stations, and fixed-line internet infrastructure were wiped out, literally.

It's not a big problem, usually - until you have it yourself....
 
Expect this to be US only as Tim Cook in my view has no desire or ability to release to other countries, either that form he is deeply xenophobic.
I understand that Macrumors or the Apple sheep will be highly offended and likely ban me again but I am allowed my free speech so accept it!

Freedom of speech in the US means the gov't can't lock you up for things you say. It says nothing about private companies telling you to go away because you're a troll or because your behavior doesn't meet the community standards that they wish to establish.

Tim Cook's Apple makes 67% of its revenue from outside the US.
 
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Someone help me out. What other use cases are there outside of emergency contact? I feel like there is a bigger picture thing I am missing.
 
Someone help me out. What other use cases are there outside of emergency contact? I feel like there is a bigger picture thing I am missing.

I'm guessing that your reception is generally good in most places that you go. This isn't the case for about 100 million Americans.
 
Expect this to be US only as Tim Cook in my view has no desire or ability to release to other countries, either that form he is deeply xenophobic.
I understand that Macrumors or the Apple sheep will be highly offended and likely ban me again but I am allowed my free speech so accept it!
Freedom of speech does not include PRIVATE servers. As this one is.
 
There is no car….. just stop.
There obviously is a car. Thousands have been working on it for a decade. There’s a virtual mountain of evidence of its existence. You’re just like the people who were CERTAIN that Apple would never make a watch or a phone, because they’re existing competitive markets that Apple had no experience in.
 
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Except that edge case might be the difference between life and death

Yep. Like seatbelts. Over decades, I have never needed the protection they can provide in a serious collision. Therefore seatbelts are dumb being only useful in edge cases.

Just gotta shake your head. Some people have stunted thinking abilities and imagination.
 
Agreed with some who say how much of an outlier feature this will be.
BUT on the other hand when it is needed it could save your life.

Remember the guy who got his arm stuck between rocks and had to cut off his arm to survive? Imagine if he could just tell Siri to call 911 or text someone.
Weird, I thought of that exact thing too. I’m also thinking with this feature widespread, it’ll be difficult to tell fictional stories of people being lost in the woods, the desert, the mountains, on an island, or in the ocean. Because realistically, people will just be able to use this feature and get help.

Movies like Lost City, Castaway, Adrift (true story that wouldn’t have occurred), or the recent Netflix limited series Keep Breathing.
 
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I live in the middle of a huge metropolitan area, and I do a lot of hiking in areas that do not have cellular coverage. This would be an extremely useful feature to me.
 
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Apple utilizing short burst data like services... good joke... can only work with a propreitary solution.
iPhones are otherwise completely useless when it comes to low performance connections...
I remember very well when my BlackBerry 10 devices over EDGE were still usable. In fact EDGE was absolutely sufficient for stuff like email.
Meanwhile iOS apps often can't even connect over EDGE, let alone transmit any content.

"High speed data" would likely require quite substantial transmit power even to LEO satellites. 5W I think would be the bare minimum.
 
Seems like most people here would love a emergency to test this new satellite feature out. Out of all features, this is nothing to be excited about. All phones will eventually have this anyway, another boring feature. It's definitely not useless but the majority of people will probably never need it.
 
Sure, it's not something people will use often, but when it's necessary it can be life saving.

Life-saving.. shhmife saving. No one asked for this. I've been waiting for new iMessage explosion effects, and new release of Emoji 16, which finally has Shaking Face and Pink Heart.. And they give me this satellite nonsense?
 
I'm sure they can't bring it out here at launch due to some bureaucratic limitation.
It would be anticompetitive to the carriers that don’t have satellites. The EU would require that Apple launch satellites to make it even. And provide the service for free. :)
 
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