Apple invests $1.5 billion to expand satellite coverage for iPhone

Apple will invest $1.5 billion in Globalstar, the company responsible for providing satellite communications services for the iPhone.

On November 1, Globalstar said Apple had committed to spend $1.1 billion in cash and buy a 20% stake in the company for $400 million. According to Reuters , Apple is investing this huge sum to fund the expansion of its iPhone service, with the goal of providing satellite-based connectivity to users in areas with no or limited cellular coverage.

Globalstar also said it would allocate 85% of its network capacity to Apple. The deal is expected to close next week.

Emergency SOS feature via satellite on iPhone. Photo: Apple

Apple has announced satellite-based Emergency SOS for the iPhone 14 series in 2022, using infrastructure from satellite service provider GlobalStar. Emergency SOS initially promised two years of free service, then extended it by another year. That means early iPhone 14 users will be supported until November 2025.

With iOS 18, Apple announced the addition of two-way satellite messaging when outside of cellular coverage for users of devices from iPhone 14 and later.

Satellite communication is gradually becoming the new standard on high-end smartphones when Apple, Huawei, Samsung, Google have integrated the ability to send messages and make satellite calls on some supported devices. In particular, Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is the first phone in the world that can send photos to other devices via satellite when there is no mobile signal.