SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced that Starlink achieved peak download speeds for its satellite-to-phone service using a Samsung phone. It was then revealed that the test was done using a Galaxy S21 Ultra and in collaboration with one of the cellular service providers in the USA.
Starlink gets 17Mb/s download speeds for satellite-to-phone service on Galaxy S21 Ultra
According to a tweet from Elon Musk, Starlink's direct satellite-to-phone service achieved peak download speeds of up to 17Mbps. A lookup of the phone's serial number mentioned in the screenshot revealed that the phone is likely a Phantom Silver version of the Galaxy S21 Ultra (128GB) from Verizon. This phone doesn't have any special hardware to connect to satellites for calls and messages. This testing started a couple of months ago when the company partnered with T-Mobile for a satellite-to-phone telecommunication service for calls and messages.
In this service, a smartphone wouldn't require any special hardware to connect to a satellite. So, even when there is no conventional cellular network range nearby, a smartphone would be able to make/receive calls and messages by connecting directly to a satellite. Starlink has been testing such a service, and it looks like we can use it in the coming months.
However, due to low speeds, such services will likely be usable only in emergencies or when no cellular network is nearby. Satellite firms must tie up with regular mobile phone network companies for such services to work. Devices like the iPhone 14 (or newer) have special hardware inside to connect to satellites directly.
Future Galaxy phones could feature special hardware for satellite calling
Samsung was expected to bring a similar feature with the Galaxy S23, but that never happened. Then, the feature was also tested for the Galaxy S24, but even that phone didn't get the feature. The company says it will wait for the ecosystem to mature before bringing such a feature.
