It turns out that the iPhone 14 won't be the first smartphone to support satellite connection, as we previously reported, as Huawei already did it with the Huawei Mate 50 and Mate 50 Pro.
Both of the recently unveiled cellphones support text messaging using China's international BeiDou satellite network. It's an emergency function that allows you to contact loved ones or emergency services even if mobile networks are down, which can happen when you need them the most, such during war or a natural disaster.
It's a specialised feature that you're unlikely to ever use, but it also has the potential to save a life. According to the sounds of things, Huawei's version of it is very limited and only supports text messages. As a result, calls cannot be made using this system, and it appears that you can only send texts, not receive them. However, the fact that it is the first to do so counts for something.
But given that the iPhone 14 series, which is supposedly offering a similar mechanism, is set to launch today (September 7), it will presumably face some fierce competition soon. In reality, Apple's strategy might permit calls as well, giving it an immediate advantage over Huawei's. Not to mention the fact that, unlike the Huawei Mate 50 range, the iPhone 14 and its siblings will be accessible in the US.
But given that T-Mobile and Starlink will soon collaborate to offer a comparable service, and given that other businesses are probably also considering satellite communication services, it's possible that this feature will soon become commonplace and accessible on a variety of smartphones. This can only be a good thing.
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Analysis: Additional features the Huawei Mate 50 provides
While the Huawei Mate 50's satellite communication capability may be the most eye-catching feature, both this phone and the Huawei Mate 50 Pro include plenty of technological features.
The Mate 50 Pro comes with a 4,700mAh battery that supports 66W charging, a 6.74-inch OLED screen with a resolution of 1212 x 2616 and a refresh rate of 120Hz, a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and up to 256GB of storage.
Additionally, it boasts a triple-lens camera with a 50MP main sensor, a 13MP ultra-wide sensor, and a 64MP telephoto lens that can digitally zoom up to 200 times. It's interesting to note that the primary lens's aperture may be changed to anywhere between f/1.4 to f/4.0. On smartphones, variable apertures are extremely uncommon and rarely present.
The regular Huawei Mate 50 is a step back in various regards. The telephoto camera is 12MP, and the phone has a 6.7-inch 1224 x 2700 90Hz display. It also features a smaller 4,460mAh battery with 66W charging. It has the same chipset, RAM, and primary and ultra-wide cameras.
These phones won't be offered in the US, as was already mentioned, but it's feasible that they will in the UK and Australia. However, both models lack 5G, so they are unlikely to rank high on our ranking of the best smartphones.
