Rumor has it that Apple will soon be announcing more countries for its emergency satellite SOS feature for the iPhone 14, which was revealed at Apple’s “Far Out” showcase in September. During the showcase, Apple announced that it would be launching exclusively in the U.S. and Canada in November, with other parts of the world to follow in 2023. According to Swiss outlet MacPrime, however, it’s possible that we could be getting an update featuring more countries being added to Apple’s satellite network later this year.
Because of the nature of translation, there are two interpretations of MacPrime’s report. One is that Apple itself reached out to the publication saying that more countries will be announced later this year, while the other reading of it could be that MacPrime heard from an outside, unlisted source. Digital Trends has reached out to the author for clarification.
Either interpretation of the statement should be taken with skepticism, however. For obvious reasons, unnamed sources can be a little tough to trust if you don’t know their relationship to the topic they’re speaking on. On the other side of the coin, hearing directly from Apple is about as solid a source as you can find, but the fact that the company hasn’t reached out to anyone else or made a public statement about this is a major red flag.
Luckily, the information that’s up in the air is regarding the release timeline for a service that no one is counting on yet, so waiting until more reports can confirm the initial report isn’t the end of the world.
If Apple is looking to announce additional regional support for the iPhone 14’s satellite connectivity, it’s possible that we would be hearing about that close to or alongside the launch of the feature in the U.S. and Canada. That’s just speculation, however, as MacPrime’s report didn’t mention a window for the announcement outside of it simply being later this year. Following the rumored announcement, the site does expect additional countries to still be announced as planned in 2023 as Apple expands its satellite coverage.
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