Snapdragon Satellite: Two- way messaging via satellites coming to Android smartphones

Qualcomm officially announced at CES 2023 the Snapdragon Satellite service, the world's first two-way satellite messaging solution for premium smartphones, which will enable access from anywhere in the world in emergency situations and beyond.

The beginning will take place later in 2023 with smartphones that will have a Snapdragon 8 Gen2 processor and thanks to the support of Iridium's satellite network, while the necessary tools will be given to the company's partners - manufacturers and to developers for the development of third-party solutions that they will utilize the possibility of communication via satellite. In addition to SMS, communication will likely include other messaging services.

Qualcomm's vision is not only limited to the smartphone category, but there are aspirations to extend satellite communication to laptops, tablets, cars and other IoT devices. Later, in fact, when the Iridium fleet will be strengthened with even more satellites (currently it has 66), the support of the 5G NTN (Non-Terrestrial Network) network will also be opened.

It should be noted that Apple already offers the ability to communicate via a satellite network in the iPhone 14 series that was presented last September.