Last January, Qualcomm announced a project aimed at allowing Android users to send text messages via satellite when they don’t have cell service. The company’s response to Apple’s emergency SOS feature could have been… However, the initiative did not work out as Qualcomm had hoped.
Qualcomm has ended its Snapdragon Satellite partnership with satellite phone maker Iridium. Although the pair “successfully developed and demonstrated the technology, smartphone makers did not include the technology in their devices,” Iridium said. .
Qualcomm said smartphone makers “indicated their preference for standards-based solutions” for satellite connectivity . In other words, they’re looking for a more open approach that doesn’t necessarily position Qualcomm as a middleman. like He notes that the cost of satellite text messaging may have discouraged some manufacturers as well. Apple is footing the bill for emergency SOS at the moment.
Now that its agreements with Qualcomm are coming to an end, Iridium says it will be able to work directly with smartphone makers, mobile operating system developers and other chip makers. Meanwhile, Apple has expanded the Emergency SOS feature by adding crash detection integration.
Elsewhere, Starlink is . It plans to bring satellite voice and data functions directly to phones, meaning users won’t necessarily need a nearby Starlink station.
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