Google Likely To Use Garmin’s Help To Offer Satellite Connectivity On Android Phones – News18

Google is preparing to announce the Android 14 version, most likely with the launch of the Pixel 8 series in the coming months.

And people are eager to see if the company follows in Apple’s footsteps to support satellite connectivity on Android, as mentioned in reports earlier this year. Now, it is suggested that Google will rely on one of the first companies to offer satellite connectivity on a device, which is Garmin.

The hints of this partnership have been spotted in the code of the latest Google Messages app by a developer named Neil Rahmouni this week, who points out that the Google Messages app could soon offer emergency calls features, which mostly work in remote parts of the world where the mobile networks are not available.

Apple has partnered with Globalstar for its iPhone 14 satellite tech which has already made an impact, helping people stuck in dead zones and letting them connect to emergency agencies via messaging service.

Google going with Garmin for the technology makes a lot of sense, as it helps the company enter the segment, which will help them optimise the feature using Garmin’s expertise with satellite tech that has been adopted on its wearables for many years now.

Just because the code of the app has shown traces of Garmin’s feature doesn’t mean Google will eventually use it for the public version as well. Having said that, we have heard murmurs about Android 14 bringing the satellite feature, so the timing of Google and Garmin joining hands for the technology doesn’t feel so odd anymore.

We’ll have to wait for Google to officially confirm is this development is true, and for that, we might have a few months before the new Pixel 8 series launches, which is usually around October every year. Samsung is another brand that could adopt satellite tech with the upcoming Android version, and offer it on the premium Galaxy S-series phones, notably, the Ultra model.