13 Comments

The iPhone 13 didn’t have satellite connectivity but the 14 does. What changed?

Expand full comment
author

The RF, antennas especially.

Expand full comment

What about them? You couldn’t know whether the iPhone 13 had them or not. Your article could very well have been written about the iPhone 14 before it came out.

Expand full comment
author

Nope. We knew about the antenna and RF differences from supply chain for 14. This was written before the 13 was released with full knowledge of the RF componentry. We don't make false statements or speculations like that without clearly denoting it.

Expand full comment

Do you have a source for that?

I haven’t heard about specifics for the 13 or 14 antennas before they came out.

Expand full comment
author

The entire RF subsystem. It's not on random websites, but it's in the supply chain.

Expand full comment

Someone would have talked about it and not just to you (who don’t live in China) and “random websites” would have talked about it.

Expand full comment

Band 53 (2,483.5-2,495 MHz) is allocated to the Mobile Satellite Service (MSS), but it is not for communications with satellites. It is for Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) use; that is, terrestrial cellular base station use. However, that band is currently shared with TV Broadcast Auxiliary Services (BAS) Channel A10, 2483.5-2500 MHz). There are about fifty grandfathered TV Pickup stations in existence. There is no sunset date for the grandfather rights and the operation is co-primary, not secondary, with MSS ATC. Between co-primary spectrum users, the newcomer is obligated to protect the incumbents. Since TV Pickup stations are used for electronic news gathering (ENG), the TV Pickup station's operational area of record generally prohibits co-channel use in the same area. Grandfathered TV BAS Channel A10 stations are Globalstar's "elephant in the room" that they don't like to talk about..

Expand full comment

Solid analysis. Thanks. I'm not sure if today's premarket drop is down what you explained or doubt over the Apple "partnership."

Expand full comment
author

Doubt is over satellite internet. Bloomberg quote explains how emergency services would work.

Expand full comment