Globalstar provides satellite communications iPhone 14 emergency messages

The American company Globalstar provides satellite communication for emergency messages from the iPhone 14 phones. Apple did not mention the company in its presentation Wednesday evening. Globalstar works with low-earth orbit satellites for the service.

Apple pays much of the cost of launching the satellites, but not all of it, reports Reuters. It concerns an investment of a total of 450 million dollars from Apple. When released in November, the service will only work in the United States and Canada. Whether and when emergency communications via satellites will work in other areas is unknown.

The spec sheet of the European version of the iPhone 14models does not state compatibility with the service. The Qualcomm modem used does have support for 5G band N53, the band Globalstar uses for communication. That is a band around 2.4GHz, in which Bluetooth and WiFi are also active. It is a narrow band that is only suitable for short messages.

Apple announced the service Wednesday evening. With an iPhone 14, users can use the service free of charge for two years. What happens next is unknown. The iPhone 14 is the second smartphone that can communicate emergency messages via satellites. The Huawei Mate 50 can do that too. It uses the Chinese Beidou GPS system.