Qualcomm and Iridium Communications have ended their partnership to bring satellite services to smartphones. The decision was made after smartphone manufacturers failed to include the technology in their devices.

Qualcomm and Iridium announced the partnership in January, and the two companies successfully developed and demonstrated the technology. However, smartphone manufacturers were hesitant to adopt the technology, which was proprietary to Qualcomm and Iridium.

“Smartphone OEMs have indicated a preference towards standards-based solutions for satellite connectivity in mobile devices,” a Qualcomm spokesperson told FierceWireless. “We expect to continue to collaborate with Iridium on standards-based solutions while discontinuing efforts on the proprietary solution that was introduced earlier this year.”

Iridium CEO Matt Desch said the company is disappointed that the partnership didn’t bear immediate fruit, but he believes the direction of the industry is clear toward increased satellite connectivity in consumer devices.

“Led by Apple today, MNOs and device manufacturers still plan, over time, to provide their customers with expanded coverage and new satellite-based features, and our global coverage and regulatory certainty make us well suited to be a key player in this emerging market,” Desch said in a statement.

Iridium said the termination of the agreements with Qualcomm frees it up to directly re-engage with smartphone OEMs, other chipmakers, and smartphone operating system developers that the company had been collaborating with previously (via FierceWireless).

The company also said it will be pursuing new relationships with “smart device OEMs” for existing and future service plans.

Related:

• Qualcomm Q4 2023 earnings: Smartphone slump continues, looks to Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for future growth
• Qualcomm reveals nine early adopters of Snapdragon X Elite processor: Xiaomi and Honor among them
• Apple to use Qualcomm Snapdragon X75 modem in iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max
• Qualcomm defies challenges, beats forecasts in Q4 2023 for China

(Via)

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