Qualcomm blew the whistle on ambitious plans for SOS satellite communications
He will continue to be dedicated to creating new standards in the industry
The reason for the failure is probably the high price and lack of interest on the part of the manufacturers
One of the most interesting functions that has appeared in smartphones recently is undoubtedly the option of satellite SOS communication. When Apple introduced this solution, it was the only major manufacturer in the mobile world to offer this feature. It didn’t take long for the competition to come up with their own plans for satellite communication, which was supposed to start appearing gradually among other manufacturers from next year. At the same time, the mobile chipset manufacturer Qualcomm had the most ambitious plans, which wanted to offer the possibility of satellite communication within its products, which would make the implementation of this function easy and fast.
We won’t see Snapdragon Satellite next year
Qualcomm seems to have miscalculated. What should have been the main draw of his chipsets, in addition to high performance, turned out to be too complex a task. However, not from a technical point of view, but from a commercial one. To create the Snapdragon Satellite function, Qualcomm joined forces with Iridium, which has a satellite network that would ensure communication. This deal has now been re-evaluated and the entire satellite communications project from Qualcomm has been put on ice after 10 months. The cause of the crash is very simple – there was no interest in satellite communication among smartphone manufacturers.
The lack of interest from smartphone manufacturers likely stemmed from the price Qualcomm charged for the feature. The company didn’t officially mention any amount, but research and development in this area certainly didn’t come cheap, so it’s no wonder the company wanted a return on its investment as soon as possible. The little control the manufacturers have over the feature certainly played a part as well – since the satellites are provided by Iridium and the service is sponsored by Qualcomm, the manufacturers themselves could not influence virtually any aspect of the feature.
Don’t overlook
Qualcomm will deprive Apple of a competitive advantage. Introduced its own satellite SOS communication for Android
However, Qualcomm is not going to give up the idea of satellite communication completely, and according to CNBC, it will continue to work with Iridium on further development, but this time without ambitious plans for the future. Together with her, he wants to create new standards that could be established by smartphone manufacturers in the future. So the question remains what satellite communication in smartphones will look like in the future – Apple currently covers all costs for users, which puts quite a lot of pressure on the competition to follow the same practice. Only time will tell if this is a sustainable model.
Author of the article
Dominik Vlasak
Editor, traveler, fan of technology, Star Wars and good coffee.
2023-11-13 17:00:00
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