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This satellite connectivity will allow Android Smartphone users to send and receive basic text messages in an emergency
‘Qualcomm’, one of the world’s biggest chip manufacturers and satellite phone firm ‘Iridium’ have joined hands to bring satellite connectivity into Android phones. Once activated, this will allow Android phone users to still send and receive messages in areas with zero coverage.
Being immensely popular, Qualcomm chips are found in almost all Android smartphones, thus this satellite will likely turn out to be a success.
iPhone manufacturer Apple came out with a similar feature back in September 2022, however it was second to UK smartphone company Bullitt, which launched the first satellite connection for smartphones in selected areas.
This new partnership will make satellite connectivity available to millions of smartphone users around the world. Currently the service will only allow users to send and receive basic emergency text messages without the need for mobile coverage.
Without limiting people to stick to a particular brand for satellite connectivity, however, enabling or disabling satellite connectivity is up to the manufacturer.
Orbiting 780 km above the Earth, the Qualcomm and Iridium satellite offers worldwide coverage.
Named as the Snapdragon Satellite, the satellite connectivity feature will only be available in premium Qualcomm chips. This means that most budget devices will likely not have the feature.
At first the feature will only be available on mobile phones, later it will roll out on other devices such as tablets, laptops and cars.
Once it becomes widely available, satellite connectivity will completely solve the problem of weak or zero mobile coverage areas. This in turn will have a great effect on multiple industries, one of the most major ones will be tourism.
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