Today, well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted in his latest report that the iPhone 13 will support low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication, allowing users to make calls and send messages in areas without 4G or 5G coverage.
He predicts that the iPhone 13 will support low-Earth orbit satellite communications in hardware. If Apple activates the software feature, iPhone 13 users will be able to use satellites to make calls and send messages without 4G or 5G coverage.
Kuo also said that Apple is optimistic about the advantages of satellite communications in the future. Apple should have already set up a specific team and has been researching and developing related technologies for some time.
Kuo also said that Globalstar is most likely to cooperate with Apple to provide satellite communications services. In addition, SpaceX’s Starlink and China CASC are also worth investors’ attention.
It is reported that from the hardware level, the realization of the iPhone 13 satellite communication benefits from the customized X60 baseband, which is different from the current integrated baseband of Snapdragon 888, especially with the addition of support for the n53 frequency band. If other smartphone brands also want to provide models that support satellite communications, they will need to wait until 2022 to use the X65 baseband.
