Google Pixel 9 Rumored to Get Satellite Connectivity, Too

The next flagship Google phone, the Pixel 9, could come with more connectivity capabilities including sending messages through satellites, if a new rumor is proved true.

The Google Pixel 9 will use the next generation of its in-house Tensor chipsets, the Tensor G4, which will have a Samsung Exynos 5400 modem, a source told Android Authority. While this isn’t too surprising to hear Google may stick with an Exynos modem (last year’s Pixel 8 and its preceding Pixel 7 use an Exynos 5300 modem), the rumor suggests this means the Pixel 9 will be able to connect through satellites.

To date, only Apple’s iPhones have widely been able to communicate through satellites, which use the proprietary Emergency SOS system to send text messages relayed through Apple-manned operators to summon emergency services. Others have tried to launch similar offerings — for instance, chipmaker Qualcomm unveiled Snapdragon Satellite at CES 2023 as a proprietary solution that manufacturers could opt to install in their phones, though none did and the offering quietly shuttered at the end of last year.

Read more: Satellite Messaging: The 2023 Phones Trend That Wasn’t (Yet)

Instead, Apple’s Emergency SOS aside, the trend of satellite connectivity seems like it will follow a slower and more open pathway. Qualcomm debuted its Snapdragon X80 modem at MWC 2024, which supports the general NB-NTN (non-terrestrial network) standard of satellite connectivity within the 3GPP Release 17 set of communication standards (along with some future standards coming in the unfinalized Release 18). In short, this should open up device manufacturers using the modem to many more satellite solutions.

Samsung unveiled the Exynos 5400 ahead of MWC 2024, focusing on 5G advancements without officially clarifying its satellite capabilities. The Exynos 5400 will support the same Release 17 NTN standards, according to Android Authority’s source, though they didn’t offer any additional specs or other information to suggest how Samsung’s newest modem may improve the Pixel 9’s conventional wireless connectivity. Pixel owners have complained about erratic connectivity in recent Pixel phones, as Android Police noted, and attributed it to the Exynos modems, which Google switched to using in the Pixel 6 to pair with its Tensor chipsets rather than the Qualcomm modems it had used in its prior handsets.

Android Authority’s source did suggest that the Exynos 5400 would be paired with other devices slated to use the Tensor G4 beyond the Pixel 9 — including the next generation of Pixel Fold devices as well as a 5G tablet, codenamed “clementine,” which Google is purportedly in the early stages of developing. Presumably, these devices will be able to connect through satellites as well.

Samsung hasn’t elaborated on any satellite connectivity capabilities of the Exynos 5400, though satellite network company Skylo did certify the modem for use with its satellites shortly after MWC 2024. The year before, Samsung announced that it had simulated satellite communications using its Exynos 5300 modem and planned to incorporate two-way texting as well as exchanging images and video over satellite into future modems. 

Neither Samsung nor Google responded to a request for comment by time of publication.

While last year may not have been the year of satellite-to-phone connectivity that I originally anticipated at the outset of 2023, the potential of using satellites to boost connectivity in remote areas outside the range of mobile networks remains promising. For now, Apple retains its advantage and Emergency SOS is another feather in the iPhone’s cap, but it’s still only usable in an emergency and only carries text. Future connectivity solutions, like the as-yet unrealized satellite solutions proposed by Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T, seek to let users send multimedia messages and make voice and video calls beyond mobile networks.