Qualcomm partners with Iridium to bring satellite messaging to Android phones

At CES 2023, Qualcomm announced Snapdragon Satellite. It's a new initiative by the mobile chip maker to bring satellite messaging to "next-generation premium Android smartphones,". Qualcomm is partnering with Iridium, a company with a communications satellite array already in low orbit, on this project.

Potential uses include emergency SOS services, SMS texts, and other low-bandwidth messaging applications in areas outside terrestrial networks and where Iridium's global constellation is licensed to operate. Any emergency messages would be routed through response teams run by Garmin, a GPS technology specialist and longtime Iridium partner.

Snapdragon Satellite will be available in certain regions from the second half of 2023 starting devices using the second generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform.

Qualcomm's chipsets are already commonly used in Samsung, Motorola, and other smartphone brands worldwide. Snapdragon Satellite can also be enabled on other devices including laptops, vehicles and tablets, it added, without specifying if those devices would need any special equipment.

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