The rumor: Apple’s highly-anticipated satellite communication feature could launch on iPhone 14, according to Mark Gurman (86.4% accurate, via Power On).
- Initial rumors in 2021 suggested that the iPhone 13 series could boast satellite connectivity…but at launch it was nowhere to be found
- Since then, we have seen reports suggesting that Apple is still actively developing the feature, even though an exact launch date wasn’t known
- “There have been signs lately that Apple and its apparent satellite partner Globalstar Inc. might be getting closer to launching such a feature. In February, Globalstar said it reached an agreement to buy 17 new satellites to help power “continuous satellite services” for a “potential”—and unnamed—customer that had paid it hundreds of millions of dollars. Is that customer Apple? We’re probably less than six months from finding out, ” Gurman says
Sam’s take: The fact that this deal was signed and announced with an unnamed company sounds like Apple to me (plus, the first-ever report about satellite connectivity mentioned Globalstar as Apple’s partner). We’ve seen this in a past where an Apple partner talks about a deal before Apple is ready to, and it always happens like this. I would bet pretty heavily that we see this on iPhone 14, especially considering that we know it has been in development for a number of years.
