Galaxy phones won’t get iPhone-like satellite until it’s ‘ready’

Samsung president TM Roh says the company is waiting for satellite connectivity to be “ready” before adopting it on the Galaxy smartphone line.

Speaking to CNET ahead of the February 1st Galaxy S23 launch, Roh suggested it was too early, with satellite connectivity on phones still being fairly limited.

“When there is the right timing, infrastructure and the technology [is] ready, then of course for Samsung Galaxy, for our mobile division, we would also actively consider adopting this feature as well,” said Roh.

Samsung’s decision not to ship satellite features in the new Galaxy S23 devices comes as a surprise given the company’s penchant for packing just about every feature you can imagine into its devices and trying out new features — even if they’re far from being ready — just to see if people like them.

It also puts us in the rare position where Apple was first to pioneer a new feature with Samsung waiting for it to be “ready” before shipping it.

Anyway, Galaxy fans may not have to wait long. Qualcomm recently announced its ‘Snapdragon Satellite’ feature that will enable satellite connectivity on the latest Snapdragon chips later this year. Notably, Samsung’s new Galaxy S23 series run on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, which likely will be one of the chips to support Snapdragon Satellite when it launches.

Still, Roh doesn’t seem totally convinced, telling CNET that he doesn’t believe satellite “is the end-all or be-all of the solutions to ensure peace of mind among users.” Instead, Roh pointed to Samsung’s other efforts to improve communications, such as enhancing the sensors inside its phones and broadening 5G coverage.