To support the Emergency SOS feature for the iPhone 14, Apple plans on spending $450 million to help expand the satellite networking infrastructure across the US.
A majority of the funding will go to Globalstar, the satellite communications provider that’s partnering with Apple to power the SOS feature. This will allow an iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Pro to connect to a Globalstar satellite in orbit to contact emergency services, even when the user is off the grid. All the user needs is a clear view of the sky.
To improve the satellite infrastructure, Apple is working to expand the ground stations across the country that can receive and send data to the Globalstar satellite network. Specifically, Apple is upgrading the ground stations with new “high-power antennas” from a US company called Cobham Satcom.
“These new antennas were installed in all Globalstar worldwide ground stations, including new ground stations in Nevada and Hawaii, as well as existing facilities in Texas, Alaska, Florida, and Puerto Rico,” the company said.
Apple’s announcement also mentions that upgraded satellites from Globalstar are on the way. Back in September, Globalstar published an agreement that shows Apple plans on paying 95% of the funding needed to help it launch new satellites. In exchange, Globalstar plans on allocating “85% of its current and future network capacity” for Apple’s services.
“With Apple’s infrastructure investment, we’ve grown our teams in California and elsewhere to construct, expand, and upgrade our ground stations, and we look forward to the next chapter in Globalstar’s lifesaving technology,” Globalstar Executive Chairman Jay Monroe added.
However, Globalstar is posed to face some competition from SpaceX’s Starlink, which is also working on a satellite communications service for phones, including those connected to the T-Mobile network.
Apple plans on rolling out the Emergency SOS feature to iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro users in the US and Canada later this month. However, the feature will only support sending text messages, which could take between 15 seconds to a few minutes to send each one. The same feature, which will be free for the first two years, can also be used to share the iPhone owner's location via the Find My app.
