Let's take a breather from all of the AI news, shall we? And talk about another interesting subject — satellites!
A week ago I was hiking in Tahoe, pulled out my iPhone with zero bars, and sent a message to my service (www.satjourney.com) via a satellite. The whole ordeal took less than a minute, and most people probably don't know they have this capability on the phone currently in their pocket. Yes, satellites are very interesting, they're here to stay, and they're going to become a lot more useful come next year! Let's dive in...
Ubiquitous satellite connection for places with no terrestrial cell signal is already here. Right now there are four ways to use it:
Recent iPhones (14 and later) and the latest Pixel and Galaxy phones have satellite built in. Text messages only, and it currently costs $0.
Garmin inReach, ZOLEO, SPOT: external devices that pair with your phone over Bluetooth, send text messages (the newest Garmins do photos and voice notes too) and call emergency services, for $15–20 a month. The device runs $200–400.
Verizon and T-Mobile have plans that let you text over satellite. T-Mobile's T-Satellite connects your phone straight to Starlink, is included in their top plans, and costs $10 a month as an add-on for everyone else, including customers of other carriers. It also lets a growing list of approved apps use it: WhatsApp, AllTrails, Google Maps and others.
Starlink Mini: fits in a backpack, around $50 a month plus $350–500 for the box. It draws 25–40 W, so you need real batteries. Great in a car or on a boat, not so great on your back.
Only #4 gives you the high-speed connection we're all used to, but it's bulky and expensive. On 1–3 you won't be browsing or watching YouTube, but you can chat with your friends and family.
At this time options 1 and 3 are the ones to watch because they're useful and usable — they need nothing but the phone. The industry calls this "direct to cell" (D2C) and it's the simplest of the four because there's no extra box to charge, carry, or forget.
Apple, Google, Amazon and AT&T don't run satellites... just yet! But some of them are about to start. Here are the major satellite operators as of now:
Iridium. The network under most Garmin inReach devices. In beta with a standards-based service that lets modern phone and IoT chips talk to its satellites directly, no proprietary radio required.
Globalstar. Apple's satellite partner, which is being bought by Amazon for $11.6 billion. Soon Amazon will be providing Apple with its satellite comms. Oh, the irony. And Amazon isn't stopping there: in July it filed with the FCC for its own 5,000-satellite direct-to-device constellation, deployment starting 2028.
Skylo. Owns no satellites at all. It leases capacity on existing geostationary satellites and runs the 3GPP standard for narrowband satellite, so any modern phone chip can talk to it. It's the service behind Pixel 9 and 10, Galaxy S25 and S26, the Pixel Watch 4, and Verizon's satellite texting. The quiet one nobody has heard of, in a lot of pockets.
Starlink. SpaceX paid about $17 billion for EchoStar's spectrum last September so Starlink can talk to phones on its own frequencies instead of borrowing a carrier's. It has more than 650 direct-to-cell satellites up, service in 22 countries, and it went public in June at a valuation north of $1.7 trillion. Direct-to-cell was a headline in that pitch.
AST SpaceMobile. The new kid on the block. It has 13 of its very large BlueBird satellites in orbit, is launching three at a time every couple of months, and is backed by AT&T, Verizon, and Vodafone. Beta service in the US before the end of this year, and a separate European-controlled constellation with Vodafone.
And then there's Apple, the one holding something back. All year different sources reported that the iPhone 18 Pro would carry Apple's own modem with 5G satellite support. Apple's September event mentioned none of it, just that the current text-only satellite service stays free for another year. Either it's not ready, or Apple is waiting for the right satellite network to present itself. My money is on the second, but we will just have to see how it plays out.
So what does it all mean? I'm glad you asked...
So the fact is that satellite communications have been around for many decades, and now they're coming not just to consumers, but to your phone. You already have (most likely) rudimentary sat comms on that phone in your pocket, but its capabilities are going to expand rather quickly.
The carriers and Apple are buying stakes in constellations of satellites instead of just signing contracts.
2027 is the year when you, the consumer, start seeing real results. Starlink's next-generation satellites are slated for the second half of 2027. AST says it will begin its commercial service in the first half of 2027. Amazon's Globalstar deal closes in 2027. This year is betas and press releases. Next year your phone quietly starts getting a real connection in places it couldn't before.
Apps will probably stay locked out for another year or two, then the doors will open, and regular developers will start having access to satellite connections. I don't really know exactly what will come to market, but I can guarantee that interesting products will get built.
With enough satellites in orbit there will always be at least one above your head, which essentially means: you will ALWAYS be connected. Literally all the time. For some people that's already true; for me it's not. I enjoy escaping the connected world once in a while, but I want my family to not worry when I'm in the mountains. And that's the bet behind SatJourney: an always-on connection is slowly becoming free, but the story you send over it is not.