Qualcomm to take on Apple’s Emergency SOS with Snapdragon Satellite

At CES 2023, Qualcomm announced Snapdragon Satellite, a two-way smartphone messaging solution. The service will start with devices based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform.

The feature relies on the Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF systems and the Iridium satellite constellation. Qualcomm said in a press release that the solution uses Iridium’s weather-resilient L-band spectrum for uplink and downlink. Qualcomm also plans to support 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) as it becomes available.

Qualcomm plans for emergency messaging on Snapdragon Satellite to be available in select regions in the second half of 2023.

Moreover, Qualcomm says Snapdragon Satellite can expand to other devices, including laptops, tablets, vehicles, and IoT.

Snapdragon Satellite appears to be Qualcomm’s attempt to take on Apple’s Emergency SOS feature that launched on the iPhone 14. Emergency SOS came to Canada in November, and it has already proven helpful in the U.S., helping save a stranded snowmobiler and people who fell into a canyon.

You can find all of our coverage from CES 2023 here.

Image credit: Qualcomm