SpaceX and Starlink Benefitting from Apple iPhone 14 Satellite Feature: Analyst

Photo: SpaceX

Apple’s inclusion of satellite compatibility in the iPhone 14 shows the advantages of SpaceX and Starlink, as detailed by one Wall Street analyst this week.

The move to iPhone satellite compatibility provides “free advertising” for SpaceX and its Starlink satellite service, according to a note to clients from Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, reports Street Insider (via @TeslaNY).

Jonas said he expects the low-bandwidth smartphone feature to someday become a “standard kit across the mobile cortex,” emphasizing its likelihood to become common in next-generation mobile phones.

“While today’s smartphone consumer satellite capability is more limited to emergency SoS services, over time, improvements in saleable capacity, satellite, antenna and terminal architecture will drive continual improvement in coverage and services,” said Jonas in the note to clients.

“An extraordinarily high degree of vertical integration (from launch to service provider) makes SpaceX a seemingly unavoidable force in the space economy, responsible for growing the TAM itself. We have seen a surge in interest around smartphone satellite connectivity in recent months/weeks as companies look to be the first to market with a service that provides true ubiquitous coverage.”

The news comes just a few weeks after SpaceX announced a Starlink partnership with T-Mobile in order to help provide dead zone coverage for mobile users and Tesla owners with Premium Connectivity.