Elon Musk Says SpaceX, Apple Had Talks Over Satellite Connectivity Feature

iPhone series 14 was unveiled at the Apple’s ‘Far Out’ event on Wednesday. A day after the launch, SpaceX head Elon Musk revealed his company’s plans and “promising talks” with Apple for using Starlink connectivity for the new satellite feature introduced in the recent iPhone lineup. While there is no confirmation from the Cupertino-based tech giant on Musk’s statements, the billionaire called Apple’s iPhone team “super smart.” If the two companies go ahead with the plan, this will be the first collaboration between Musk’s companies and Apple.

Apple, during the ‘Far Out’ event on September 7, announced Emergency SOS via Satellite. The feature, which is set to launch in November, will let iPhone 14 series users avail emergency services with satellite networks in areas where standard cellular reception does not function properly. For now, Apple has partnered with Globalstar to power the satellite infrastructure.

A day after the launch, Elon Musk announced on September 8 via Twitter that his company SpaceX “had some promising conversations with Apple about Starlink connectivity.” Musk gave the statement while replying to a tweet.

It is not clear if the talks are still going on. Neither Apple nor SpaceX has given any comments on Musk’s statements yet.

Meanwhile, Musk’s SpaceX recently collaborated with the US wireless carrier T-Mobile to announce satellite connectivity. This will allow users on the T-Mobile’s network to tap into SpaceX satellites and send text messages in areas without cellular connectivity.