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The iPhone 13 Does Not Have Satellite Internet, Band N53 and Globalstar
- umeshunni 5y agoI find it representative of the sorry state of tech 'journalism' that anyone would think that a cell phone in 2021 is capable of satellite internet. A quick search will show anyone the size of even the smallest Starlink receiver and common sense dictates that current generation phones cannot have any meaningful signal strength connecting to even an LEO satellite.
- bob1029 5y agoI wonder what the theoretical minimum size would be for an antenna that can maintain a half-decent connection with the current generation of starlink/iridium/et.al. satellites.
- jonplackett 5y agoI would presume it's not that much smaller than the size they built Dishy
- hugs 5y agoCheck out the Garmin inReach Mini or Rock Seven's RockBLOCK 9603. They're already relatively small -- I could imagine those circuits getting smooshed into a phone case. However, I doubt the connection would be anywhere close to half-decent. Would be useful for emergency text-messaging after a disaster, though.
- gruez 5y ago>Would be useful for emergency text-messaging after a disaster, though. Disaster is probably the least useful use case for this. The satellite would be overloaded from all the people requesting help. A far more plausible use case is if you got lost hiking or something.
- Scoundreller 5y agoOr multicast down, but probably couldn’t get more than a few kbps without killer expenses. Outernet was an application of this concept: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othernet https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othernet But reality is that cellular coverage world wide gets better and better.
- wmf 5y agoThe joke's on you; multiple startups are working on satellites that can communicate with unmodified cell phones. It will probably be limited to SMS but it's not literally impossible.
- xvf22 5y agoPlenty of startups works on impractical stuff. Not to pass judgement but the fact that startups are trying doesn't necessarily confirm validity. See wireless power.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- Retric 5y agoYou can buy a range of actual wireless power tech today going all the way back to crystal radio‘s. Charging pads, RFID tags, and fully radio powered sensors etc aren’t want we thing of as wireless power but yesterday’s magic is today’s background noise.
- dividedbyzero 5y ago> yesterday’s magic is today’s background noise. Yesterday's magic is today's Ikea product. I have a few of their 5 Euro Livboj Qi charging pads for charging my phone and Airpods and they work just fine.
- xvf22 5y agoMore thinking ubeam now sonicEnergy. https://liesandstartuppr.blogspot.com/2017/06/arguing-point.html https://liesandstartuppr.blogspot.com/2017/06/arguing-point....
- baxtr 5y agoI've heard there is a startup that has developed devices to automate and miniaturize blood tests!
- xwdv 5y agoWhy? Look how fast technology progresses these days and how people have become so used to it. Seemingly impossible technological advances are rarely met with skepticism and disbelief but rather a shrug of the shoulders and a “Huh, guess they figured that out.” That’s partly why people are so easily scammed by companies like Nikola and Theranos.
- Andrew_nenakhov 5y agoIriduim phones are much smaller (~5x, I guess) than first Motorola mobile phones. They are capable of internet access, likely with first-generation GPRS speeds, and at killer rates.
- Retric 5y agoI agree it wasn’t going to happen, but I understand their confusion. Current satellite phones are the size of regular cellphones. That’s the equivalent of very low bandwidth internet access, but even low bandwidth access can still be really useful. https://www.g-comm.us/iridium-9555-satellite-phone.html https://www.g-comm.us/iridium-9555-satellite-phone.html Dropping that to something that fits in an iPhone would be a very significant improvement, but it hardly breaks the laws of physics. Thus https://xkcd.com/2501/ https://xkcd.com/2501/
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- mikestew 5y agoI think it slightly disingenuous to just pretend that big honkin’ antenna isn’t there and then say “it’s the size of regular cellphones”. My Motorola Startac from 25-30 years ago didn’t have an antenna that big.
- Retric 5y agoIt’s 143mm x 55mm, the iPhone pro is 146.7 mm x 71.5 mm and the iPhone pro MAX is 160mm x 78 mm. Granted it’s also thicker and slightly heavier, but calling it cellphone sized is reasonable IMO.
- simonh 5y agoThat’s with the antenna collapsed. Extending it looks like it adds another 10cm or so.
- vmception 5y agoApple has streamlined very significant improvements before (and nobody cares if an obscure android device had it five years beforehand, Apple has wowed and brought many things into commonplace) I would agree that there would typically be something obvious in the supply chain or a proof of concept before the iphone randomly has a significant improvement though
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- Geee 5y agoIt wouldn't even make any sense.
- amznthrwaway 5y agoI own a satellite transceiver for backcountry usage that enables me to SMS from anywhere in the world. It weighs 3.5 ounces (including a rugged case), is only 2 or 3 inches tall and wide, was cheap, and is three or four years old.
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- HugoDaniel 5y ago...but Apple
- vlunkr 5y agoThey can put in all in vast space they freed up when they took out the headphone jack.
- lanna 5y ago> In 2007, RIM [...] held multiple meetings after the iPhone was launched and accused Apple of lying about the capabilities of the new device. The claims focused on how it was impossible that a device with such a larger touch display could have any usable battery life. [0] > [...] it couldn’t do what they were demonstrating without an insanely power hungry processor, it must have terrible battery life, etc. Imagine their surprise when they disassembled an iPhone for the first time and found that the phone was battery with a tiny logic board strapped to it. It was ridiculous, it was brilliant. [1] I agree with you regarding the next iPhone not having satellite internet. But I don't think it represents "the sorry state of tech journalism" or lack of common sense. I can understand why some people would believe Apple is capable of doing the impossible: because they have seen Apple doing the "impossible" before. [0] https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/news/rim-thought-the-2007-iphone-was-impossible/ https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/news/rim-thought-the-2007-ipho... [1] https://macdailynews.com/2010/12/27/rim_microsoft_were_in_denial_thought_apple_was_lying_about_original_iphone/ https://macdailynews.com/2010/12/27/rim_microsoft_were_in_de...
- AdamJacobMuller 5y agoThe only "sorry state of tech journalism" is over-reporting this as "omg it totally will" instead of "qualcomm released a new chip which could pave the way for the iPhone to have satellite connectivity" The issue isn't limited to tech journalism at all and in fact tech journalism may be the least affected by this issue of all. But, frankly, I know my headline won't generate as many clicks or views and that's why they do it. Because we collectively react more to the sensational. The fault, dear lanna, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.
- zamalek 5y ago> In 2007, RIM [...] held multiple meetings after the iPhone was launched and accused Apple of lying That in itself is completely absurd. The iPhone was disruptive because it had a slick touch interface and thoughtful UX. There were phones doing vastly more (e.g. multitasking) than the iPhone years prior (Symbian, Windows CE), with a full day of battery life. It's no wonder RIM ended if they were that disconnected from the smartphone market.
- randyrand 5y agoThe Garmin Inreach Mini is physically possible. It’s considerably smaller than a cell phone. https://www.switchbacktravel.com/best-satellite-messengers https://www.switchbacktravel.com/best-satellite-messengers
- nynx 5y agoIt’s odd that this article is titled to state that the iphone 13 doesn’t have satellite internet, but the content states that it nevertheless will have some sort of satellite connectivity. Clickbait much?
- imwillofficial 5y agoGPS doesn’t count as “internet”
- nynx 5y agoAll smartphones already have GPS?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- imwillofficial 5y agoThere will be no satellite internet on the iPhone 13.
- frazbin 5y agopull-quote from the article: > Apple has created a mechanism that will ask users to be outdoors and walk in a certain direction to help the iPhone connect to a satellite. Linking to a network also won’t always be instantaneous, with testing of the feature indicating that it could sometimes take up to one minute to work.
- tiernano 5y agothats the bloomberg article... a "someone familuar with..." said kind of quote... how drunk where they? or what were they paid?
- Jtsummers 5y agoWhile that's in the style of a pull-quote, it is not a pull-quote. It's a quote from the Bloomberg article that the author of this article is generally disputing.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- randomopining 5y agoWhatever. You know most of you and everybody else in the 1st world is gonna order one within 1-3 months of it coming out anyway. Apple's phones are so good.
- jasonhansel 5y ago> The most likely path forward, and the one that Globalstar proclaims themselves, is licensing this spectrum for use on a terrestrial basis. Maybe it will be used for connecting iPhones to wearable devices, as an alternative to Bluetooth? Or maybe Apple is planning on something like Amazon Sidewalk?
- Traster 5y agoOr maybe Apple is planning literally nothing, it just comes bundled as one of the plethora of functions that the Qualcomm chip can do because it's cheaper to make 1 design to do everything than to tape out more designs.
- murat124 5y agoThat's ok but give us back Touch Id. Lack of it is a deal breaker for many.
- decebalus1 5y agoOr using the device I bought in order to scan my pictures and texts 'think of the children' style. Hard pass on any next version of the IPhone.
- GeekyBear 5y agoI have no idea if it will make it into the next iPhone, but it's certainly something Apple has been dumping R&D money into for several years. From 2019: >Apple Inc. has a secret team working on satellite technology that the iPhone maker could use to beam internet services directly to devices, bypassing wireless networks, according to people familiar with the work. The Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker has about a dozen engineers from the aerospace, satellite and antenna design industries working on the project with the goal of deploying their results within five years https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-20/apple-has-top-secret-team-working-on-internet-satellites https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-20/apple-has... Gurman has the best sources inside Apple, and he is still saying that emergency satellite communications (as currently sold in tiny devices like the Garmin Inreach Mini) are actively being worked on. >The rumored satellite features for future iPhones are reserved for emergency uses only, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. A few days ago, a report by well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the next iPhones will come with support for Low Earth Orbit satellite calls and messages. Gurman’s sources said, however, that Apple isn’t turning its devices into actual satellite phones, at least for now. Instead, the tech giant is reportedly developing at least two emergency-related features relying on satellite networks. https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/31/apples-rumored-iphone-satellite-support-may-be-for-emergency-calls-and-messages/ https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/31/apples-rumored-iphone-sate... Kuo has the best sources inside Apple's supply chain, but we've seen him get the timeline wrong for components graduating from prototypes to mass production before.
- Fatalist_ma 5y agoSatelite "internet"? All I have read about is the ability to send emergency text messages. The author goes on a tirade about how you can't browse Bloomberg with a 256kbps internet. Straw man much? > As per GlobalStar, they are capable of up to 256kbps (32Kbps). This is with optimal, unobstructed conditions and high power and gain antennas. For text messages, even 256 bps is more than enough, hell, even 2 bps is usable for that. > The source of this rumor is from Ming Chi Kuo Ignores that the linked article from Bloomberg does not rely on Ming Chi Kuo and is much more concrete than just "the modem supports a frequency". > Globalstar believes that over half their revenue will come from terrestrial spectrum licencing. ... > The most likely path forward, and the one that Globalstar proclaims themselves, is licensing this spectrum for use on a terrestrial basis ... > The recent meteoric rise in Globalstar’s stock price is almost entirely unwarranted. ??? If you're claiming that the new frequency in Iphones is for terrestrial use, then that validates Globalstar’s own strategy, so how is it unwarranted?