Since the iPhone 14, Apple has offered a feature allowing you to contact emergency services at any time and anywhere: emergency SOS by satellite. iPhone users can thus send messages in white areas (without network) in order to obtain help.
On the Google side, a growing number of rumors point to the arrival of a similar functionality on its next smartphones. The media Android Authority also provided a layer on April 14, 2024.
Written by the leaker Kamila Wojciechowska, the paper mentions the arrival of a new modem on the Tensor G4 chip of the Pixel 9, the Samsung Modem 5400, “the first to support Android’s native satellite implementation”.
We learn in passing that Google has developed a dedicated application called Satellite Gateway to facilitate communication with emergency services via the satellite network.
In terms of operation, Google’s new service will first offer the user the opportunity to answer a burst of questions, some with predefined answers, to refine the situation in which they find themselves:
- What happened ?
- Are you/are they/is everyone breathing?
- In total, how many people are missing/stranded?
- What best describes your situation?
- What’s on fire?
- Are weapons involved?
- What type of vehicle or vessel?
- Do any of these apply?
After responding, they will be able to forward the responses to their emergency contacts and/or emergency services for assistance.
Note, Android Authority points out that the new Tensor G4 chip modem should arrive on devices other than the Pixel 9, including Google’s next foldable model and a 5G tablet.
In addition, it is specified that the functionality will initially be available from the American operator T-Mobile. The deployment should therefore be postponed for other markets, as was the case with France and Apple’s emergency SOS by satellite.