Iridium and Qualcomm Prep Satellite Mobile for Android Phones

Satellite operator Iridium and chipmaker Qualcomm have joined forces to add satellite-based “messaging and emergency services” access to premium Android powered Smartphones in the second half of 2023, which will enable them to compete with rival solutions like the Apple iPhone’s new Emergency SOS via Satellite (here).

Over the past year it’s been difficult to avoid the latest ‘next big thing’ in Smartphone development, which has been the addition of satellite based – usually using Low Earth Orbit (LEO) platforms – communication and internet connectivity services. Often this will work via existing mobiles – no major changes required (i.e. we’re not talking about expensive and bespoke satellite phones).

For example, Starlink has joined forces with T-Mobile to introduce a basic global roaming service (here), while OneWeb have similar plans (here) and Vodafone are backing AST SpaceMobile to do the same (here). At the same time, Apple’s latest iPhone 14 mobiles (i.e. those running iOS 16.1 or later) already come with a basic Emergency SOS via Satellite feature.

Naturally Iridium, which has a long history of operating more bespoke Satellite communication services, are keen to get in on this action, and they’ve now teamed-up with Qualcomm to do exactly that. Under this approach, Qualcomm aims to produce a new ‘Snapdragon® Satellite‘ chip, which can be added to Smartphones and will enable them to connect via Iridium’s existing satellite network.

Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium, said:

“While some have been expecting we would be integrating our system into a specific smartphone, what we’ve done is so much bigger. Working with a mobile technology leader such as Qualcomm Technologies and their powerful Snapdragon platforms allows Iridium to serve the smartphone industry horizontally – and offers us an opportunity to enable other consumer and vehicular applications in the future. This supports our larger vision of connecting people and things on the move, anywhere!”

Admittedly, this isn’t quite the same as the approach being taken by others, some of which do not require customers to necessarily buy a new handset. But Qualcomm’s position in the mobile chip market means that they could eventually get this into many hundreds of millions of mobile handsets, starting with premium models, before slowly becoming more ubiquitous.

However, much like the other services being developed, Iridium and Qualcomm envisage all this as powering both basic emergency messaging and also “texting with friends and family from anywhere on the planet with a view of open sky“. So unlike some of the other plans for future services, you probably won’t be doing any serious mobile broadband connectivity with this solution.

The other question is around price and how much operators, and their customers, may have to pay in order to access such a feature. But in order to keep this competitive, particularly in the consumer space, it’s likely that the costs will need to be kept low (i.e. a few pounds £ per month extra as an add-on).