While iPhone 14s are already capable of making emergency calls via satellite, a similar feature may soon be coming to Android smartphones, thanks to Android 14.
Since their release last September, the iPhone 14s have introduced satellite emergency calling functionality. This SOS that can be sent from the most remote areas of the globe regularly saves iPhone owners, which makes this feature indispensable for many adventurers.
We know that emergency calls should soon arrive on Android smartphones thanks to Snapdragon Satellite, launched by Qualcomm, but the first compatible models are still awaited. In the meantime, this is another feature that should make its arrival on Android smartphones: sending SMS by satellite.
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Pixel 8 and Galaxy S24 could send text messages via satellite
@GooglePixelFC announces on Twitter that Satellite SMS will be available on Android 14, provided smartphones have the right hardware. He goes on to say that Samsung’s Pixel and Galaxy will be the first to be compatible, given the close partnership between the two manufacturers.
In other words, we can expect that the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro which will be launched next October will be the first to offer the possibility of sending SMS by satellitebefore being joined early next year by Samsung’s Galaxy S24. This therefore corroborates the words of Hiroshi Lockheimer, the senior vice president of platforms and ecosystems at Google, who had previously said that support for satellite connectivity would arrive as soon as the next version of the operating system, Android 14.
It should be clarified that the @GooglePixelFC account is not affiliated with Google, so support for this feature as soon as the Pixel 8 release is to be taken with tweezers. However, given Google’s enthusiasm for satellite connectivity, we can imagine that they could include this feature on their next high-end smartphones.