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Apple and Starlink can be considered competitors. On the iPhone, Apple offers a satellite communication service, through its partnership with the company Globalstar. This satellite communication service is already deployed on compatible models in the United States. For its part, Starlink is developing a product called Direct-to-cell that also allows you to communicate via satellite, as if you were connected to 4G. And this product is currently being tested in beta in the United States with the operator T-Mobile.
However, we learn via an article from Bloomberg that Apple and SpaceX have worked together, while Starlink is gradually deploying its satellite communication service on mobile. More specifically, an article from Bloomberg indicates that Apple and SpaceX have secretly worked together on support for the Starlink network on the latest version of iOS: iOS 18.3. As a result, people who have access to T-Mobile's beta test would be able to use Starlink's satellites on their iPhones when they are not covered by traditional mobile networks, but only if they have iOS 18.3 installed.
By default, if the user does not have cellular coverage, the iPhone would use the Starlink and T-Mobile network by default. However, a menu would allow switching to the network offered by Apple and Globalstar. Unlike Apple's network, Starlink's network works even when the smartphone is in the user's pocket (to use Apple and Globalstar's satellites, the iPhone must be pointed in a specific direction).
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As a reminder, the advantage of Starlink's Direct-to-cell network is that it works more or less like a 4G network broadcast from space. As a result, unlike Apple and Globalstar's network, Starlink's is not reserved for specific models. This has also been confirmed by T-Mobile. Quoted by Bloomberg, the American operator explains that, while the tests only concern certain optimized smartphones, the network offered with Starlink will later be compatible with the “vast majority” of modern smartphones.
The other good news is that Starlink intends to offer this mobile network from space in other countries. Moreover, it has already formalized several partnerships with operators in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Switzerland, Chile and Peru. In December, Starlink also formalized a partnership with operator Kyivstar in Ukraine.
- In the United States, Starlink and T-Mobile are testing the Direct-to-cell service that allows communication via satellite when there is no access to the cellular network
- Starlink is said to have secretly worked with Apple to make the iPhone compatible with this network (even though Apple already has its own satellite communication service)
- For the moment, Direct-to-cell only works with certain models as part of the beta, but it should work with the majority of modern smartphones, later
- Starlink has already planned partnerships with other operators, to deploy Direct-to-cell in other countries
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