Will Lockett

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Many have compared Elon Musk with Steve Jobs. They are both flawed visionaries that pushed boundaries and created the tech landscape we know and love today. But Musk and Apple haven’t always had the best of relationships. Back in 2013, Apple attempted to buy Tesla with no success. Then, in 2017, Musk tried to sell Tesla to Apple in order to stave off bankruptcy during the Model 3 development. Then, in 2021, new revelations about this deal came to light, making it appear that Musk would only sell Tesla if Apple appointed him CEO of Apple. Needless to say, the two tech giants have not been on the best terms since. So when a renowned Apple analyst mentioned that Apple has recently secured a satellite internet partner for the upcoming iPhone 14, many questioned if this partnership would involveMusk’s Starlink and, if not, could it sink Musk’s internet ambitions?

The analyst in question is Ming-Chi Kuo. He specialises in digging through Apple’s finances to figure out their next move in order to inform the Asia-Pacific supply chains on how best to commercially adapt, allowing suppliers to be one step ahead of the game. So when he says Apple is making a big move, it is worth listening to him.

In fact, Ming-Chi is a Medium writer, and this news broke in an article he wrote for the platform on August 29th (and if you love anything Apple, you should definitely follow him). In this article, he showed that the iPhone 14 have satellite connectivity and the iPhone 13 already has the hardware for it too. The only reason the iPhone 13 isn’t currently using satellite connectivity is because they lack a supplier. However, Apple has recently secured their provider and is now in the process of solidifying a business model with aforementioned supplier.

The reason Apple wants a satellite connection for their iPhones is quite apparent. It would allow its users to send texts and make phone calls anywhere in the world. So whether you were on Mt. Everest, in the middle of the Sahara, or walking around in that bit of your town with terrible reception, you could still make that all-important call. As you can imagine, this feature will give Apple a serious advantage.

Or at least it would have. You see, recently, T-Mobile announced that they will be using Elon’s Starlink satellites as orbiting 5G towers. So T-Mobile will share its 5G licence with Starlink, allowing the next generation of satellites to start operating in the 5G spectrum (as well as their current spectrum) and provide T-Mobile customers who own 5G phones with universal coverage.

In actual fact, Apple is playing a somewhat redundant catch-up game here, as consumers can access this service through T-Mobile. But knowing Apple, they will want their own satellite connection subscription to boost their income streams. This might not be such a foolish decision. Unlike T-Mobile, Apple doesn’t own a 5G licence nor any of the satellite operators. This means that Apple can’t use this spectrum and will instead need to connect using the satellite provider’s native frequencies. If engineered correctly, this might be positive and could allow Apple’s satellite connection service to offer a more reliable and faster speed than the T-Mobile 5G Starlink service.

So the big question is, who is this partner? Is it Starlink or one of their competitors like Globalstar, Viasat, OneWeb, or even Amazon’s Project Kuiper?

This question matters because hundreds of millions of iPhones are sold each year, and there are over 1.2 billion iPhone users worldwide. Meanwhile, Starlink only has just over 400,000 subscribers, and T-Mobile only has 109 million customers (of which only about 14% have 5G phones). So, in other words, whoever Apple partners with will become the leader in consumer direct-to-satellite internet connections. This could either cement Starlink at the forefront of this industry or allow a competitor to leap-frog them in one simple step.

Ming-Chi reckons the most likely partner is actually Globalstar, which has been operating satellite communication networks for decades and provides bits of infrastructure to the 5G networks. They offer satellite internet, but it is more akin to old dial-up internet and can only load text-based pages (Sat-Browse service). They have been the go-to choice for emergency satellite phones for years.

If Apple did partner with them, the extra revenue would be enough for them to consider adding a Starlink-style internet service to their phone services (where low-powered portable devices can directly connect). They could then easily offer a rival home internet service too and quickly encroach on Starlink’s turf.

But, this service already exists with Starlink, and Apple could engineer their phone to connect to the already existing Starlink satellites, putting them ahead of T-Mobile. The only issue is, can Musk and Apple agree on a business model that enables them to work together? History seems to show that this isn’t likely.

Only time will tell if Apple will launch this service and who they will choose to partner with. But needless to say, billions of dollars are at stake here, and if Starlink wants to dominate the satellite internet space, it needs this contract. So yes, Apple is taking on Starlink. They will either work with the company and adopt it into their ecosystem or support a rival to the point where they could crush Starlink. It goes to show just how mighty Apple is in the tech world.