Amazon and Apple have signed an agreement to provide satellite connectivity for current and future iPhone and Apple Watch features.
Globalstar currently partners with Apple to power satellite service on iPhone 14 or later, as well as Apple Watch Ultra 3, allowing users to text emergency services, message friends and family, request roadside assistance, and share their location.
Announced with the news that Amazon and Globalstar have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Amazon will acquire Globalstar, Amazon will continue to support iPhone and Apple Watch models currently using Globalstar’s existing and planned upcoming low Earth orbit satellite constellations, being manufactured by MDA Space, and collaborate with Apple on future satellite services using Amazon Leo’s expanded satellite network.
“Since launching more than three years ago, our groundbreaking safety service Emergency SOS via satellite has helped save many lives around the world—from a scout troop stranded on a winter hike in British Columbia, to a woman who was airlifted to safety in Colorado after her car rolled down a 250-foot cliff,” said Greg Joswiak, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing, Apple.
“Apple and Amazon have a long and proven track record of working together through Amazon’s core infrastructure services, and we look forward to building on that collaboration with Amazon Leo. This ensures our users will continue to have access to the vital satellite features they have come to rely on, including Emergency SOS, Messages, Find My, and Roadside Assistance via satellite, so they can stay safe and connected while off the grid.”
The agreements with Globalstar and Apple will promote innovation and competition across the space, satellite, and telecommunications sector, and support efforts to close the digital divide globally.
Accelerates innovation and expands connectivity options
By combining Amazon’s low Earth orbit satellite network with Globalstar’s infrastructure and spectrum assets, the acquisition enables faster deployment of D2D connectivity at scale—reaching areas where terrestrial deployment is delayed, cost-prohibitive, or vulnerable to disruption.
It will also mean more reliable mobile data and communications services to consumers, businesses, and governments, while setting new benchmarks for innovation and giving customers greater choice, flexibility, and value in a dynamic and highly competitive satellite communications sector.
Strengthens resilience for private and public sector
D2D satellite connectivity provides critical fallback capabilities when terrestrial networks fail during hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and other disasters—and its utility extends well beyond emergency situations.
Higher-capacity connectivity materially improves emergency response coordination while also enabling a broad range of everyday and mission-critical use cases, from emergency messaging, search-and-rescue, and maritime distress, to remote workforce connectivity, continuity of government operations, and rural broadband extension.
In day-to-day operations, D2D service closes coverage gaps that terrestrial networks alone cannot address.
Drives economic growth and closes the digital divide
Amazon’s multibillion-dollar investment in Amazon Leo is already creating broad economic opportunity across the U.S., Europe, and other regions around the world.
These new agreements with Globalstar and Apple expand that roadmap, supporting high-value jobs in engineering, manufacturing, and operations while extending connectivity to enterprises, IoT applications, fleets, and supply chains operating beyond terrestrial reach—enabling productivity gains, new business models, and connecting underserved populations globally.
