Top Apple analyst predicts iPhone 13 will have satellite communications features

Ming-Chi Kuo has some new thoughts to share about what’s coming with Apple’s iPhone 13.

The TF International Securities analyst who has a long and active history of calling out Apple’s updates before they’re public said in a new investor note that he expects the next iPhone to feature a low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite communications mode (via 9to5Mac). Just send your calls or texts to outer space and wait for them to bounce back to a recipient on the ground.

The feature would mean that using basic iPhone 13 features would be possible even in situations where the user is outside the range of cellular towers. Kuo said the predicted LEO mode would be made possible by Apple’s use of a customized Qualcomm X60, a baseband modem chip that supports satellite communications.

The specifics of which call and/or data features would be supported in a theoretical LEO mode aren’t clear. It’s also not known if using the feature would carry an added charge, similar to the way using a cellular device in roaming mode typically costs more.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Apple potentially turning to outer space for help with beaming cell signals around the globe. A late 2019 report from Bloomberg suggested that such a move could happen, as of 2019, within the subsequent five years.

The details were even more hazy back then. Bloomberg’s report noted that Apple wasn’t sure at the time of how it would use satellites, or who those satellites would belong to. The company wasn’t even sold on the project as a whole necessarily, though word that Apple CEO Tim Cook was personally interested in making something happen with satellites made the project’s prospects seem more concrete at the time.

The introduction of an LEO mode for iPhone 13 would come at a time when Apple’s competitors in the tech world are increasingly looking to the skies. Furthest along is SpaceX; the company’s Starlink program has had a beta program up and running since late 2020. There were at least 1,500 Starlink satellites in orbit as of late June 2021 — a big number, but well short of the 10,000-plus that will likely be needed to maintain a robust network as more users sign up.

Amazon also has a plan for getting directly into the satellite communications game, dubbed Project Kuiper and first revealed in 2019. That one’s not nearly as far along, however. Amazon announced a partnership with the United Launch Alliance in April that will see the first of its satellites ferried to orbit by Atlas V rockets, across nine separate launches. But none have left Earth at this point.

None of this has any direct bearing on Apple’s plans, but consumer tech is often guided by trends. Apple’s predicted leap into adding device support for satellite communications immediately connects with a broader shift that’s been led so far by other power players in the industry.

Apple is expected to reveal the iPhone 13 — which is also said to feature a high-refresh rate, always-on display — alongside other new product reveals and announcements sometime in September, as is the tradition at this point. There’s been no word on exactly when it’s happening, but if history is any guide it should be within the next few weeks.