Qualcomm says Motorola, Oppo, etc. will add satellite tech to phones

BARCELONA — Qualcomm says Honor, Motorola, Nothing, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi are all working with the company to bring satellite connectivity to smartphones. Specifically, phone makers have started developing devices with Snapdragon Satellite. Qualcomm had not named his hardware partner so far at MWC, although he unveiled his Snapdragon Satellite at CES earlier this year.

Qualcomm worked with Iridium to bring the Snapdragon Satellite to life. It’s a global two-way messaging system that allows compatible devices to send and receive text messages when off the grid. It relies on Iridium’s network of low-Earth orbit satellites, which use the L-band spectrum from 1GHz to 2.1GHz.

(Credit: Qualcomm)

The Snapdragon Satellite is similar in nature to Apple’s Emergency SOS via the iPhone 14 family’s Satellite. Emergency SOS lets you use your iPhone 14 to connect to satellites when cellular or Wi-Fi is unavailable. A person in need of assistance can use a dedicated her iPhone app to text him and send location coordinates to facilitate rescue.

Qualcomm says its service works pole-to-pole, and Apple’s Emergency SOS is available in the US, Canada, and some European countries. Snapdragon Satellite works with devices based on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor currently available in a handful of phones, such as the Galaxy S23 and OnePlus 11 5G.

None of Qualcomm’s hardware partners have made any specific announcements about adding emergency messaging to their phones.