To enable emergency communication anywhere on the planet, Qualcomm introduced Snapdragon Satellite for Android phones at CES 2023. Now that Qualcomm has announced the first few takers of the technology, the same will soon be incorporated into future smartphones. Check out the details below.
Qualcomm Collaborates with Xiaomi, Vivo, and More
At MWC 2023, Qualcomm announced partnerships with Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Motorola, Nothing, and Honor to bring satellite communication to their phones.
It will be possible with Snapdragon Satellite, a two-way messaging service aiming to cover the world from pole to pole. A third-party messaging platform is also supported. Apple introduced satellite communications in the iPhone 14 series but did not support third-party applications.
The Snapdragon Satellite is backed by Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF Systems and Iridium’s satellite constellations. Qualcomm has collaborated with Irium, which is a global satellite communications company.
The vice president of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Francesco Grilli, said, “With Snapdragon Satellite integrated into next-generation devices, our partners will be able to provide satellite messaging capabilities with a mature and commercially available global LEO constellation, which allows subscribers to communicate outdoors with emergency service providers, as well as family and friends.”
Besides laptops, tablets, cars, and IoT-backed devices, Qualcomm aims to support 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN). By the end of this year, we expect Android phones to have satellite connectivity.
There has yet to be a word on when this will begin happening. All of the OEMs have yet to provide any details on this. Therefore, stay tuned for more updates!
