Qualcomm unveils the Snapdragon | Moving

Qualcomm Technologies has announced that it has partnered with satellite provider Iridium and is introducing the Snapdragon Satellite which will give mobile phone manufacturers the ability to easily offer satellite communications in their devices. According to Qualcomm, the reason for choosing Iridium is that the company has 25 years of experience and that its LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellites can provide pole-to-pole coverage even over the oceans.

The Snapdragon Satellite will be available for some high-end Android devices from mid-2023. These are devices using the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 platform, which includes the Snapdragon X70 modem.

Iridium currently uses 66 satellites for its communications, with an additional 9 already in orbit that can grab any out-of-service satellite. Initially, satellite support for text communications is supposed to be launched in North America and Europe. Under optimal conditions, the connection should be made within three seconds, and if the connection is not made in a timely manner, another satellite will come into range within about 8 to 10 minutes. According to Qualcomm, it should be possible to send an entire SMS in less than 10 seconds.

In addition, all forms of services and certifications must already be approved because Snapdragon satellite devices will act as Iridium devices, and according to Qualcomm, some manufacturers, including Garmin, have already gained access to the technology. It also plans to add the Snapdragon Satellite to other devices such as laptops, tablets, vehicles, and IoT devices.