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This rumor made the rounds years ago, and it turned out to be a big pile of hot air. It's the same pundit (Mark Gurman)[0]. It's possible he jumped the gun in

This rumor made the rounds years ago, and it turned out to be a big pile of hot air. It's the same pundit (Mark Gurman)[0]. It's possible he jumped the gun in 2019 and it's finally coming to fruition. It is cool, and Starlink shows it's possible, but it may also just be wishcasting. [0] https://www.macrumors.com/2019/12/20/apple-secret-team-satellites-beam-data-to-devices/ https://www.macrumors.com/2019/12/20/apple-secret-team-satel...

samwillis 4y ago
> Starlink shows it's possible I wouldn’t say it shows it’s possible yet. They claim it’s possible but there are none of the starlink v2 satellites in orbit that are required for it to work. Originally v2 satellites required Starship for launching, it sounds like they are pivoting to Flacon now though due to delays in Starship reaching orbit. Apple will want the service to be available as soon as the Phone launches, so potentially in late September. It’s going to be at least late 2023 before the SpaceX/T-Mobile service lunches.
- gibolt 4y ago
  They have tested it in a lab to show it is possible. There is nothing physically limiting it from working. Getting the v2 satellites up is an unmet milestone, not proof that it won't work.
  - dev_tty01 4y ago
    > There is nothing physically limiting it from working. Clouds, rain, atmospheric density variations, interfering signals and noise sources, phone positioning, the attenuation and reflections from nearby materials... Also, don't forget that the SpaceX announcement was for a max of about 4 Mbps for an entire cell which they said was a very large geographic area. It will also be asynchronous short message (text) for quite a while. Next time I am backpacking in Canyonlands it will be great to have, but it will have very little impact on the vast majority of phone usage for quite some time. Its a small but important step.
    - gibolt 4y ago
      Those all physically limit any signal. Starlink already communicates with the ground, just depends on reading phone signal from noise at that altitude. That is the intent of Starlink. Some amount of connectivity everywhere. For all the corners of the world that no traditional carrier will cover.
      - nomel 4y ago
        > Starlink already communicates with the ground With a complex, large, high gain antenna. Satellite phones you can buy right now don’t look like iPhones, for a reason.
  - jjtheblunt 4y ago
    the antenna geometry will be physically interesting
- lxgr 4y ago
  Iridium and Globalstar show that it‘s possible. Both support handheld, battery-powered client devices (some even smaller than smartphones), and the former has been using inter-satellite links since day one.

samwillis 4y ago

> Starlink shows it's possible I wouldn’t say it shows it’s possible yet. They claim it’s possible but there are none of the starlink v2 satellites in orbit that are required for it to work. Originally v2 satellites required Starship for launching, it sounds like they are pivoting to Flacon now though due to delays in Starship reaching orbit. Apple will want the service to be available as soon as the Phone launches, so potentially in late September. It’s going to be at least late 2023 before the SpaceX/T-Mobile service lunches.

gibolt 4y ago
They have tested it in a lab to show it is possible. There is nothing physically limiting it from working. Getting the v2 satellites up is an unmet milestone, not proof that it won't work.
- dev_tty01 4y ago
  > There is nothing physically limiting it from working. Clouds, rain, atmospheric density variations, interfering signals and noise sources, phone positioning, the attenuation and reflections from nearby materials... Also, don't forget that the SpaceX announcement was for a max of about 4 Mbps for an entire cell which they said was a very large geographic area. It will also be asynchronous short message (text) for quite a while. Next time I am backpacking in Canyonlands it will be great to have, but it will have very little impact on the vast majority of phone usage for quite some time. Its a small but important step.
  - gibolt 4y ago
    Those all physically limit any signal. Starlink already communicates with the ground, just depends on reading phone signal from noise at that altitude. That is the intent of Starlink. Some amount of connectivity everywhere. For all the corners of the world that no traditional carrier will cover.
    - nomel 4y ago
      > Starlink already communicates with the ground With a complex, large, high gain antenna. Satellite phones you can buy right now don’t look like iPhones, for a reason.
- jjtheblunt 4y ago
  the antenna geometry will be physically interesting
lxgr 4y ago
Iridium and Globalstar show that it‘s possible. Both support handheld, battery-powered client devices (some even smaller than smartphones), and the former has been using inter-satellite links since day one.