The next iPhone is going to be a satellite phone, and you are going to have the ability to make and obtain calls and texts anyplace on the planet.
Yeah, proper. A kind of loopy iPhone rumors that is straightforward to dismiss.
However’s it is a rumor that is getting traction, and one which numerous my business contacts informed me to not be so fast to dismiss (to be honest, on the time, fairly a couple of additionally stated I used to be proper to dismiss it outright).
So, will your subsequent iPhone be a satellite tv for pc telephone?
First off, let’s backtrack a couple of steps and ask ourselves if that is actually going to be satellite tv for pc communication.
An iPhone with satellite tv for pc functionality has been rumored for a very long time, however this rumor began to get severe legs when TF Worldwide Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo — who has a fairly good monitor report — reported that the iPhone 13 would use a customized Qualcomm X60 modem chip which may deal with 4G/5G and satellite tv for pc communications over Globalstar’s n53 spectrum/Band 53.
This sounds nice, apart from the bit the place the n53 spectrum is definitely a terrestrial 5G band.
Kuo additionally speculated how Apple may bake satellite tv for pc communications into Apple Automobile and Apple AR smartglasses.
OK, positive.
The truth that Kuo reported that the iPhone would use Globalstar’s n53 spectrum, which is a terrestrial band, kind of poured chilly water on the rumor.
Nonetheless, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has picked up this concept and run with it, detailing a characteristic known as Emergency Message through Satellite tv for pc thatwould let customers ship emergency messages to the emergency companies and shut contacts the place there was no cell protection. He additionally briefly mentions a device that could possibly be used to report severe incidents alongside the strains of aircraft crashes and sinking ships utilizing satellite tv for pc networks.
This appears like extra of a beacon service, along the lines of that the Garmin inReach.
This seems like a extra real looking use of satellite tv for pc communication, versus the extra James Bond imaginative and prescient of it.
Satellite tv for pc is high-latency/low-bandwidth, excellent for brief messages and temporary communications, however not a lot good for streaming 4K cat movies once you’re out within the wilderness.
However does the iPhone want this?
Properly, in a market the place there is not that a lot differentiation, it is one other factor to placed on the field.
It additionally is sensible within the broader image.
If Apple is engaged on a automotive, then it is planning to enter an area dominated by Elon Musk and Tesla. That could possibly be a tough market to crack.
Whereas satellite tv for pc integration may be good for the iPhone, however could possibly be important for any future high-tech electrical automotive, even when it’s only to compete in opposition to Musk.
However will not each Android producer begin including Globalstar functionality to their telephones if Apple does?
Not if Apple buys Globalstar they will not.
Ideas? Do you suppose that the iPhone wants a satellite tv for pc service characteristic?
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