Snapdragon Satellite: emergency calls arrive on several Android smartphones

Qualcomm announced support for its Snapdragon Satellite two-way messaging solution from smartphone makers Honor, Motorola, Nothing, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi at Mobile World Congress (MWC).

Earlier this year, Qualcomm launched Snapdragon Satellite, a two-way messaging solution in partnership with Iridium. Just like Apple and its satellite emergency calls on the iPhone 14, this new service will allow smartphones equipped with Qualcomm chips to send and receive calls and SMS even in areas where network coverage is non-existent.

It was not known until now exactly which manufacturers would take advantage of this feature, but Qualcomm has just given a more precise list. During MWC 2023, the American giant has finally announced that it is partnering with several Android equipment manufacturers whose goal is to use the Snapdragon Satellite on their future smartphones.

Which Android manufacturers will use Snapdragon Satellite?

Qualcomm says the Snapdragon Satellite will be used in upcoming smartphones from Honor, Motorola, Nothing, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi. There’s no indication of which devices will be supported, although it’s likely that Nothing’s device with the feature equipped will be the ‘premium’ Nothing Phone (2), which was confirmed recently.

” By integrating Snapdragon Satellite into next-generation devices, our partners will be able to offer satellite messaging capabilities through a mature, commercially available global LEO constellation, allowing subscribers around the world to communicate outdoors with emergency service providers, as well as their family and friends Francesco Grilli, Qualcomm vice president of product management, said in a statement.

In addition to being able to make emergency calls, Qualcomm seems to be saying it will also able to communicate with family and friendsbut we do not know at this time what the restrictions will be.

Qualcomm also did not mention other partners such as Samsung, which had refused emergency calls on its recent Galaxy S23s. The current solutions would not be mature enough for the Korean manufacturer, which is already working on using an alternative for the next Galaxy S24s which will arrive next year.