Qualcomm abandons Snapdragon Satellite, its answer to iPhone satellite connectivity

Less than a year after presentation Snapdragon Satellite discontinued. Satellite service Qualcommcreated as a competitor to Apple’s Emergency SOS, it didn’t even get a chance to officially debut on the market before being ostracized.

Reportedly IridiumQualcomm, which owns the satellite network in which the service will operate, decided to break the connection that united them. Chipper of San Diego notified him of his decision in early November, although the finalization of the agreement between the parties will take effect on December 3 next year.

The most curious thing about this story is that Iridium did not hesitate to admit that the Snapdragon satellite failed. due to lack of interest from mobile device manufacturers. Here’s how the firm explained it in an official statement:

“The companies have developed and successfully demonstrated the technology [por Snapdragon Satellite]; However, despite this technical success, smartphone manufacturers have not included it in their devices.”

Qualcomm, for its part, reported CNBC that brands have shown greater interest in working with standard satellite solutions. Representatives of Cristiano Amon noted that, despite the cessation of development of Snapdragon Satellite, they hope to continue cooperation with Iridium on other projects.

Snapdragon satellite failure

Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon Satellite in the early days of 2023, during the CES exhibition. The concept of the service was almost identical to that of Emergency SOS, a satellite communications alternative that Apple introduced in 2022 with the iPhone 14.

The intention was that the platform would allow any user of an Android mobile phone with Qualcomm hardware could connect to the Iridium network in case of an emergency. However, the Californians’ strategy was even more ambitious. In the future, they intended to offer the ability to send messages through this channel even in non-emergency situations.

According to Qualcomm, Snapdragon Satellite will be available in smartphones using the processor Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and modem X70. The initiative looked very attractive considering that most of the high-end mobile phones that will be launched in the coming months will include these components. However, this did not bring success.

Let’s also keep in mind that the Iridium satellite network is one of the most reliable in existence and has been in operation since the 1990s. Likewise, Snapdragon Satellite’s advantage over Apple’s Emergency SOS was that it could know the trajectory of satellites months in advance. This will allow users to connect without even pointing their smartphone at the sky.

The truth is that Qualcomm’s proposal it did not take root among manufacturers, and most likely it was not for technical reasons. Although the companies did not specify this issue, the costs of implementing Snapdragon Satellite could be too high. At least in the beginning.

Matt DeschCEO of Iridium, revealed disorder for terminating ties with Qualcomm. However, he stressed that despite the failure of Snapdragon Satellite, the technology has a lot to offer the public. “We believe the direction of the industry is clearly toward expanding satellite communications into consumer devices,” he said.