Qualcomm-Iridium to bring satellite connectivity for Androids
Technology
Laptops, cars and tablets might potentially be enabled for Snapdragon Satellite too
(Reuters) - The chipmaker Qualcomm said on Thursday that it has teamed up with Iridium Communications to offer a satellite-based messaging service for high-end smartphones using Google s Android operating system.
The collaboration comes months after Apple revealed a technology that, in select nations, including the United States and Canada has enabled iPhone 14 models to transmit emergency messages via satellite.
Such phones have a Qualcomm chip that enables satellite communication in the absence of Wi-Fi or cellular data connections.
On Thursday Qualcomm said that the new service, Snapdragon Satellite, will launch on devices using the Snapdragon 8 mobile platform in the second half of 2023 in certain locations.
It noted that other products including laptops, cars and tablets might potentially be enabled for Snapdragon Satellite. However it didn’t mention if such devices would require any additional hardware.
According to Qualcomm the manufacturer of GPS-based devices Garmin Ltd would organize emergency response services for consumers.
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