Satellite communication: After Apple, another manufacturer follows suit

How the YACHT recently reported Apple offers the option of sending emergency calls via satellite from iPhone 14 onwards. To this end, the manufacturer has entered into a partnership with the provider Globalstar, whose 24 satellites provide coverage up to around 1,000 nautical miles off the coast.

The provider Iridium also announced a cooperation with a smartphone manufacturer back in July last year, but has yet to disclose the details. As Iridium has a network totalling 75 satellites and global coverage, this partnership will enable a much more extensive service than the one with Globalstar.

As the South Korean magazine ETNews now reports, Iridium is said to have entered into a development contract with the South Korean manufacturer Samsung. The magazine also announces that Samsung will initially equip its Galaxy S23 smartphones with the satellite communication function and that - in contrast to the purely emergency messages from Apple - it will also be possible to send text messages and images in low resolution.

A milestone for the development of smartphones. If the manufacturers then manage to realise a telephone function, it may no longer be necessary to carry a separate satellite phone on board for transatlantic passages in a few years' time.

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