Qualcomm and Iridium end Snapdragon Satellite because of one key factor

Qualcomm and Iridium end Snapdragon Satellite because of one key factor،

Qualcomm and Iridium end partnership that resulted in Snapdragon Satellite

Announced last year, a day after Huawei unveiled a similar feature for its Mate 50 series, Emergency SOS via Satellite allows anyone with a compatible iPhone model to report an emergency even in areas where it there is no cellular connectivity. The iPhone screen lets the user know where to position the device to connect to a satellite; Emergency information is sent via text message to emergency services who dispatch first responders. This feature has already been credited with saving lives.

Announced in January, Snapdragon Satellite will be discontinued in December after failing to generate any business - Qualcomm and Iridium discontinue Snapdragon Satellite due to one key factor

Announced in January, Snapdragon Satellite will be killed in December after failing to generate any activity

Snapdragon Satellite was supposed to work with Iridum’s satellite constellation and Qualcomm and Iridium announced the end of their partnership as of December 3. This action effectively ends the Snapdragon Satellite, at least for now. In its press release, Iridium notes that the decision to end the partnership is due to one major factor: the lack of business. As the satellite company wrote: “The companies have successfully developed and demonstrated the technology; However, despite this technical success, smartphone manufacturers have not included the technology in their devices. »

It’s unclear where this leaves Samsung. Last month, John Yong-In Park, head of Samsung Electronics’ SLSI business division, said during the Semiconductor Expo 2023 (SEDEX) keynote that 2024 Samsung Galaxy phones will offer satellite connectivity. He didn’t mention any specific models, but it was thought that the Galaxy S24 line could be Samsung’s first phone to offer emergency satellite connectivity.

Android makers are expected to look to standards-based solutions to create a new satellite-to-phone platform.

Iridium CEO Matt Desch, speaking about the end of his company’s partnership with Qualcomm, said: “While I am disappointed that this partnership did not bear fruit immediately, we believe that the management of the he industry is clearly moving towards increased satellite connectivity in consumer sectors. Led by Apple today, MNOs and device manufacturers still plan, over time, to provide their customers with expanded coverage and new features via satellite, and our global coverage and regulatory certainty make us well-positioned to be a key player in this emerging sector. User experience will be critical to their success, and we have proven that we can deliver reliable, global capacity to mobile users.

Qualcomm also commented by stating that the absence of Snapdragon Satellite to sign a deal with an Android manufacturer “indicated a preference for standards-based solutions” to be used to support smartphone-to-satellite connectivity. “We plan to continue collaborating with Iridium on standards-based solutions while winding down efforts on the proprietary solution introduced earlier this year,” Qualcomm said.

With a standards-based solution, multiple companies could come together to create the technology to enable Android handsets to offer emergency satellite connectivity.

As we noted earlier in the story, Huawei last year became the first phone maker to offer satellite connectivity for emergencies and beat Apple by a day. This year, the new Mate 60 series is said to offer users the ability to make satellite calls using the new flagship phones. This could be seen as an improvement over the technology Apple uses, which is limited to text-based communications.