Apple could eclipse wireless operators’ satellite plans

Apple later this year will shift its satellite messaging strategy from emergency services to just regular services.

The iPhone supplier will do so with the release of its iOS 18 software platform, scheduled to be available this fall. That update will immediately give casual, non-emergency satellite messaging services to a good chunk of the estimated 375 million iPhone users globally who own satellite-capable phones.

Apple first launched satellite messaging with its iPhone 14 in 2022. That gadget, and Apple’s subsequent iPhones, support direct links to Globalstar’s roughly two dozen satellites. 

However, Apple’s satellite messaging services so far are only intended for emergencies, such as directing rescuers to stranded hikers. 

With iOS 18, Apple will open the service to regular, non-emergency messages, at least for those iPhone customers in countries where the service is available.

Some have already begun testing the offering using a beta version of iOS 18.

“Here is the story of my first satellite iMessage. It occurred in the middle of a high school football field, the location of my youngest’s graduation,” wrote LightShed Partners analyst Walter Piecyk in a recent post. “From my lap, with people in front of and behind me, I sent my first sat message to three people. Two went through. The third, to my wife sitting next to me, did not. I did not text further than this because I was at my kid’s graduation. I also did not wave my hands in the air to find the satellite.”

Concluded Piecyk: “Consumers may utilize this new functionality much more than most believe.”

Globalstar, Apple’s satellite vendor, is working to expand its satellite operations. The company is asking for federal approvals to launch another 26 satellites by next year. And, according to German publication Handelsblatt, Globalstar could eventually expand its satellite constellation to as many as 3,080 satellites over the next few years.

Apple has long been rumored to have satellite ambitions expanding far beyond emergency messaging services. For example, Apple’s Time Cook was reportedly interested in a research project at the company that would use satellites to bypass terrestrial wireless networks.

“We think it’s reasonable to assume that voice [calling] is on the roadmap,” Piecyk, the LightShed analyst, wrote of Apple and Globalstar.

The carrier response

To be clear, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile aren’t sitting still.

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