- Only about 30% of poll respondents indicate a willingness to pay for ongoing emergency satellite access.
- We still have many questions about how long free service might last.
- Details on what paid access might look like are also very opaque for the time being.
Forget LTE. Forget 5G. If you’re looking to impress someone with your smartphone’s fancy new connectivity option in 2024, it had better be talking to satellites. While Apple was first to the party, Android 15 is set to finally bring that same kind of communication to the other side of the table. Google’s big Pixel 9 launch is just one week away now, and we’re expecting that hardware to represent the first Android phone with satellite support baked in. But even once it arrives, what’s it going to be worth? That’s just the question we recently put to you, and we’ve got some very decisive results to share.
Nothing about satellites is inexpensive, and from designing them, to launching them, to maintaining communication with them, companies invest billions of dollars in space-based connectivity. And while smartphone manufacturers are interested in getting shoppers excited about this new functionality, it’s also not something that makes sense to foot bill for indefinitely — Apple, for instance, offers two years of free satellite SOS for new iPhone owners.