Apple Reportedly Exploring Ways That Let Satellites Beam Data To iPhone

Bloomberg is out a report that claims within 5 years, Apple would be able to beam data to your iPhone via satellites around the world. Appl...

Bloomberg is out a report that claims within 5 years, Apple would be able to beam data to your iPhone via satellites around the world. Apple is currently hiring software, hardware and space engineers to find ways to transfer data to your iPhone via satellite.

The Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker has about a dozen engineers from the aerospace, satellite and antenna design industries working on the project with the goal of deploying their results within five years, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal company efforts. Work on the project is still early and could be abandoned, the people said, and a clear direction and use for satellites hasn’t been finalized.

Bloomberg mentioned back in 2017 that Apple was interested in satellites and had various negotiations with Boeing. Satellite exploration has become a very important strategy in the next 10 years. Apple has built up a complete team to try to make a breakthrough in satellite technology.

Bloomberg said that the satellite program is still in its infancy and may be abandoned in the future, but for the time being, Tim Cook has made the satellite a priority task for Apple. With satellites, the company can reduce its dependence on cellular carriers. It also connects the satellite to the user directly through a data connection and, if the project is successful, it will also improve the positioning reliability of future Apple devices.

At present, Apple is still expanding the team's size. It is not clear if Apple has invested heavily in installing such satellite networks or merely using ground equipment to obtain data from existing satellites and to deliver it to its mobile devices.

In addition to Apple, social media giant Facebook is also reportedly consider keeping user account core data (such as passwords and encryption keys) on satellites to ensure it can be logged in globally and bypass the restrictions imposed by various countries' regulatory laws (a significant number of countries forbid holding individual citizenship account data in other countries).

Image Via BBC