All of the carriers should be interested, since they control the only thing that actually matters-- the direct relationship with the paying customer. The carriers who provide the billing are the ones who control the service.
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Kuo: iPhone 13 to Feature LEO Satellite Communications to Make Calls and Texts Without Cellular Coverage
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Life is dangerous, things happen in the real world. While I too prefer for the social crazies to stay off their devices while we're enjoying nature, it's smart to bring emergency stuff out on the trail (to include communications).
The Garmin works fine sending short texts this way. My stepfather has one and I have been considering buying one. It is great when you live outside cellular coverage and have a vehicle breakdown in the middle of nowhere or break your leg out in the pasture. The tech definitely would be great in a phone and I don’t see it as impossible to implement like some here. I do wonder about the antenna though, will there need to be a clunky dongle to make this work? Even if a plug-in antenna were the size of a Garmin Inreach I would happily carry it around in the car or my pocket.
Globalstar was built back in the 90’s and 00’s. The antennas are quite a bit smaller today, though I can understand the skepticism.
Let’s revisit your comment in the future. You seem SO sure of your opinion.
He’s a supply chain analyst, not a leaker. He has no leaker sources. Everything he learns, he learns by talking to Apple’s suppliers. When they tell him Apple contracted with them for X or Y, they would certainly know. I don’t think Apple can sanction him the way they can for people reporting actual leaks.
I don’t think you’re wrong, but those are the situations where the phone would use LTE or 5G, not Globalstar. Globalstar was always intended to be used in the middle of nowhere with a lack of traditional cellular coverage. This isn’t meant to replace 5G. It’s meant to supplement cellular where none can be found. For rural or ocean settings, this works.
The carriers have nothing to do with this. Qualcomm formed its own business entity to sell and market this two decades ago. Globalstar is Qualcomm-built and operated. People tend to forget Qualcomm specialized in satellite communications long before they ever built a cellular chipset. This would likely be a supplemental service on top of LTE/5G when that coverage is not available. Businesses would pay a lot for this kind of coverage while the average person would not.
If this rumor is true, I doubt this would extend beyond Apple’s iPhone Pros, since only businesses would buy this service.
guess you don't own a vehicle with OnStar, StarLink, or SiriusXM Guardian, or an Iridium phone, without a subscription. Apple Bad 😂😂
Perhaps you should ask Dr Google about the LEO bent pipe constellation of Globalstar or Iridium, then look at the realtime coverage tools, before embarrassing yourself
Perhaps it will be free as long as you are calling 911 (or its local equivalent). Maybe just wait and see.
Take my money!
The iPhone 13 will feature low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication connectivity to allow users to make calls and send messages in areas without 4G or 5G coverage, according to the reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
In a note to investors, seen by MacRumors, Kuo explained that the iPhone 13 lineup will feature hardware that is able to connect to LEO satellites. If enabled with the relevant software features, this could allow iPhone 13 users to make calls and send messages without the need for a 4G or 5G cellular connection.
The iPhone 13 reportedly features a customized Qualcomm X60 baseband chip that supports satellite communications. Other smartphone brands are apparently currently waiting until 2022 to adopt the X65 baseband chip necessary to implement satellite communications functions.
SpaceX's Starlink is a purveyor of LEO internet connectivity that some readers may already be familiar with, but the LEO satellite communication service provider that is "most likely to cooperate with Apple in terms of technology and service coverage" is said to be Globalstar. Qualcomm has purportedly been working with Globalstar to support the n53 band in future X65 baseband chips.
Kuo explained that the "simplest scenario" for providing LEO connectivity to users is if individual network operators work with Globalstar. This means that customers of a partner network operator could use Globalstar's satellite communication service on the iPhone 13 directly through their network operator with no additional contracts or payments required.
Kuo added that LEO satellite communications is a technology comparable to mmWave 5G in terms of its impact on the network industry and that Apple may leverage both technologies. Kuo says that Apple is "optimistic" about the trend of satellite communications and set up a specific team for research and development of technologies related to it "some time" ago.
The company is believed to have plans to bring LEO satellite communications to more devices in the future to "provide innovative experiences." These may include Apple's mixed reality head-mounted display device, electric vehicle, and other IoT accessories, according to Kuo.
Article Link: Kuo: iPhone 13 to Feature LEO Satellite Communications to Make Calls and Texts Without Cellular Cove
Have you been living under a rock? Have you not heard of the multiple companies including Starlink that have been putting up mesh networks of LEO sa? I mean wow. I don’t know that the tech is there for voice yet either in a phone receiver, but you sound woefully under informed about the state of LEO satellite companies.
on another note:
My guess is that this will be enabled for emergency text messages/SOS while in remote areas. It would be HUGE. Bigger than the HR sensor on the watch. It would save lives. I work in some of the most remote areas in the lower 48. For the average person to be able to send an SOS text of their location with their phone - I can’t describe the impact. Search and rescue costs, time to locate victims, fewer false alarms since theoretically it would be a written text instead of a “send the military” emergency button. 🚨. Huge
Starlink is new and is just starting to put up satellites. Globalstar is more than two decades old and completed its satellite deployment ages ago. If you check out Globalstar’s website, you’ll see cell phones no bigger than regular ones. Keep in mind Qualcomm built that network and has been working on it for over two decades. Starlink is new and immature.
My network carrier has had roaming agreement with globalstar (and with turaya) for more than decade, but they say I have to have global star equipment for it to work. With this news the only change is I now don’t have to have specific GS phone for it so work.
I think most carries have such agreement as well.
I think most carries have such agreement as well.
*Or worse, creating an unsurpassable screen of death, but before that happens all satellites/communication will die.
*Explanation of the above.
The more satellites there are the higher the risk for collisions, creating more and more space junk until eventually the above happens.
Text from cell phone to LEO satellite and back has already been demo’d; by Lynk Global (CEO Charles Miller, former NASA Senior Advisor for Commercial Space), who is setting up Lynk to be its own constellation of satellites in LEO to allow ANY cellphone to do simple, up to 3G (I believe) and text anywhere in the world. They are already in process of setting up agreements with service providers as well. So a brand new, latest-& greatest iPhone, purpose built….but going all the way out to Globalstar’s much higher orbits and back….I dunno, I would call it, in the year 2021, “Not impossible…..”.
Actually, mobile phones generally don't work off the beaten path in nature. Its why I own a Garmin InReach mobile communicator which uses Iridium and can send text messages and contact an emergency operations center.
Iridium and Globalstar are NOT in LEO; they are in MEO orbits; much higher. It is BECAUSE they are in such high orbits that they don’t have the low-latency required for high-speed internet interactions, and why Starlink’s orbits, for one, are so low.
Dave Huntsman
While you have a point; there’s also a related limitation, if they do the satellite hookup with the Globalstar system. Unlike Iridium, which has inter-satellite links (like 2nd generation Starlink satellites will have, tho, Starlink’s will be via high-data rate lasers, not optical), any Globalstar satellite in space that your phone on the ground connects to will only work IF it can see- line of sight- a Globalstar ground station; meaning, Globalstar has to have a legal ground station et al in the immediate world region. (One of a couple of reasons Globalstar doesn’t, er, work well at the poles, for example). The US military contracts with Iridium because your Iridium phone goes up to an Iridium satellite and then the signal gets bounced around the planet, satellite to satellite, until it gets sent to the nearest ground station. Using Globalstar automatically adds inhibitions if that’s what will be used; tho, expect it would be cheaper than trying to use Iridium (not a problem with the military, who has a large, premium, communicate-from-anywhere-anytime requirement). The currently being built Lynk Global System (CEO: Charles Miller), will be a LEO system (unlike Globalstar and Iridium, which are MEO, and much higher), and will allow ANY ol’ cell phone ANYWHERE in the world to communicate, via it’s network, via regular voice phone and text, at almost certainly a lower price point. It’s already been demonstrated with text as well. Satellites currently being built.
Dave Huntsman
None of this is true anymore, not even close to being true anymore. Starlink is the best example of this with exceptionally low earth orbits and a relatively small (well less than 2000) satellites in orbit and is already providing reliable, 200mb+ low latency internet to a couple hundred thousand people in the US without issue (and with a relatively small ground station)
1) You don't need a satellite to be stationary, they hand off to each other very reliably and interconnect via a laser link
2) No special knowledge or 'well placed' or aimed antennas are required
Even launching a constellation of satellites isn't that hard. SpaceX is launching 50-60+ satellites each go with nearly zero failures.
Starlink Internet Review: Low Satellites, High Pricing
Starlink boasts impressive speeds for a satellite internet provider. Here's what to expect if you decide to sign up for service.
www.cnet.com
Space startup aims to launch thousands of satellite ‘cell towers’ that connect to the average phone
Filling in coverage gaps from space
www.theverge.com
Ubiquitilink already has the tech and plans to launch birds in December, so I agree the timing is a bit off, but the technology appears very very real
News
lynk.world