The iPhone 14 series, released in 2022, was the first Apple iPhone to offer satellite communication, allowing users to send SOS messages in areas with weak cellular coverage. However, the Cupertino tech firm had a plan for a Starlink-like internet service back in 2015.
A report by The Information shed light on Apple's plans to launch a satellite internet service in 2015 in collaboration with Boeing. The project codenamed "Project Eagle," aimed at providing satellite internet to iPhones and homes by launching thousands of satellites into orbit.
Like today's Starlink, these satellites would provide internet access to users with specific equipment. Apple planned on selling antennas to customers to let them get the internet directly from orbiting satellites.
At the time, Apple allegedly saw mobile carriers as "necessary but inconvenient partners" that hobble iPhone capabilities. The iPhone maker also spent $36 million testing a Project Eagle concept.
Apple's Project Eagle was on track to launch in 2019. However, concerns about the project's costs and its negative impact on Apple's relationship with mobile carriers in the US caused the executives to abandon it. Project Eagle was halted in 2016, and its staff left the company. Again, in 2018, Apple tried to revive Project Eagle in collaboration with internet provider firm OneWeb. The second effort was also abandoned due to high costs.
Apple then shifted its focus to adding built-in satellite capabilities to iPhones, and in 2022, the first iPhone lineup with Emergency SOS via Satellite was released.
iPhones' satellite communication is currently powered by Globalstar. However, former Apple staff say the Globalstar network is outdated and slow compared to Starlink, and it's likely to remain so over the next decade.
While Apple abandoned its satellite internet service plans to avoid angering carriers, T-Mobile and Starlink have recently commenced their joint satellite connectivity beta program to provide users with satellite-based messaging and coverage. The program is also available for iPhones.
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