The iPhone 14 may be able to send emergency SOS messages while in cellular dead zones by using satellite connectivity, according to a new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
This is a more reasonable version of the overheated rumors that swirled around the iPhone 13 about that phone having satellite connectivity. Those rumors turned out to be false.
Instead, the next iPhone, and a potential future Apple Watch, may have something like a SPOT satellite tracker in it. "The technology would allow users to send text messages to emergency personnel over satellite networks and report incidents," Gurman says. So far, devices with that capability tend to be relatively large and discrete, but Apple's innovation may be to miniaturize the technology enough to fit it into a phone.
When Will All Phones Talk to Satellites?
Specialized satellite phones, as well as satellite-connecting accessories for your smartphone, have existed for years. They tend to be bulky and expensive, because they need more radio power than a standard cell phone does. Those talk to existing satellite systems like the Globalstar constellation, which orbits at about 876 miles and uses 25-year-old CDMA encoding technology.
But the advent of much lower-orbit satellites and cheaper launch vehicles like the SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets have begun to change the game. Very low orbit satellites, such as the ones used by Starlink, are easier to contact than more faraway birds. It takes more of them to cover any given land area consistently, but that also greatly increases the data capacity of the overall constellation, as more satellites means more capacity. Starlink currently orbits at 340-350 miles and plans to orbit as low as 208 miles.
Two main companies are working on giving your phone satellite linkage: Lynk and AST. Both are still just getting off the ground, so to speak. Lynk wants to make deals with wireless carriers to offer backup service where those carriers don't have coverage. It plans to launch service with wireless carrier Aliv in the Bahamas in mid-2020.
US consumers shouldn't get too excited quite yet. It's a big world out there: Lynk has signed deals in the Bahamas, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Mongolia, and the Central African Republic, according to news reports. The company's CEO told Informa that it aims to provide global connectivity by 2025.
AST, which is still in a test phase, has signed a deal with global carrier Orange.
Will Apple's Modem Be a Satellite Modem?
The timing here may all come together in what we can call the iPhone 17 cycle, in 2025. Apple currently uses Qualcomm modems to power its phones, but the company is developing its own modems and is anticipated to start including them in iPhones in 2023 or 2024.
If Apple is thinking ahead and making satellite a key part of its strategy, it may even make its own global deal with Lynk or AST, and optimize its modem for its chosen provider. That could make 2025 truly the year of no dead zones.