Huawei Offers Satellite SOS In China Where Apple's Is Unavailable
A day before Apple introduced the much-anticipated Satellite SOS feature on the iPhone 14, Huawei announced its counterpart.
The Chinese smartphone and telecommunications equipment company's flagship, the Mate 50, says it supports continuous text messaging via satellite. This feature is made possible by China's own alternative US government electronic positioning system.
Sending messages via satellite signals is not a particularly new technology. But this is the first time the Beidou feature has been implemented in a consumer smartphone, Huawei said. When there is no cell coverage, users can use a special app to send messages and their geographic coordinates and create a map of their route.
The SOS communication feature is perhaps most useful in the United States, where it is easy for people to get separated, either because people decide to go camping or because there is no cell phone coverage. Anyone who has tried to find real wildlife in China knows how often you end up on 5G paved roads (stairs and railways!).
This new satellite feature doesn't protect Huawei from its own problems. The US has taken a huge hit in its share of the huge global market as it halted supply of basic Android services and next-generation chips. Counterpoint data showed it also suffered at home, outside of China's top five brands last year. Apple ranked fifth in China with 13 percent of the country's shipments in the second quarter.
Apple's Satellite SOS option is currently only available in the US and Canada, while Huawei only works in mainland China. The split prompted a Chinese technology analyst to comment on the technological differences between the United States and China: "This situation [two giant mobile phone companies each providing SOS services in their home countries] is a precedent for the world today." .
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But the bond between the two technology superpowers has proven more difficult to unravel than many thought. The New York Times reported this week:
More than ever, Apple's Chinese employees and suppliers know more than ever about the flagship's 15th anniversary, new operations and analysts, four people who are hard at work and completing complex components, including design, speakers and batteries, made for the flagship's 15th anniversary. . As a result, the iPhone went from being designed in California and made in China to being made in both countries.
