Galaxy S22 Ultra made history; Making the first satellite call with a normal phone

There have been satellite phones in the world for a long time, but in addition to their large size, these devices also use special hardware. On the other hand, we are facing smartphones that, due to their small size, cannot host special parts for satellite communication. However, now the Galaxy S22 Ultra has become the first regular phone to make satellite calls.

A company called AST SpaceMobile has proven that you don’t need a special smartphone to make a satellite phone call. The company, in cooperation with the operator AT&T, has been able to make the first satellite call with an ordinary phone, the Galaxy S22 Ultra. The call was made from Texas to a phone in Japan.

Making the first satellite call with the Galaxy S22 Ultra

At first glance, you might think that such a thing should be done with newer phones like the Galaxy S23 Ultra; Because Snapdragon 8 generation 2 supports satellite communication; But the feature used in the Qualcomm chip is limited to sending text messages. Qualcomm technology uses the Iridium satellite network and has the same performance as other competitors, so it is not possible to make a satellite call through it.

In the first satellite call to a regular phone, the initial signal from Texas traveled from the Galaxy S22 Ultra to the BlueWalker 3 satellite, and then from the satellite to another smartphone in Japan. An unspecified AT&T electromagnetic spectrum mediated the call, so the phones didn’t need special hardware to make the call. In theory, you can make such a call with any smartphone that supports the LTE network.

To Said by ASTMaking this phone call proves that the BlueWalker satellite is capable of supporting cellular data transfer speeds. In other words, this test shows that you can make a satellite call with any smartphone and from anywhere without the need for expensive cellular infrastructure; Of course, such a thing is theoretically and not practically possible at present.