We got a small glimpse of an interesting new feature for Android 14 – satellite support. We wouldn’t have known this if not for Google Android Senior Vice President Hiroshi Lockheimer’s Tweet earlier today.

In this post he discussed the struggles of the Android platform in its early days back in 2008. The first-ever Android smartphone was the T-Mobile G1 (also known as the HTC Dream) and there were many challenges that came along with it, as expected from a piece of software in its infancy. Network speeds were much different back then, which is why working on satellite devices now after 5G development feels like a dream.

Satellite phones in our minds seem to be these bulky, antiquated pieces of hardware that are niche devices for long-distance communication. It also doesn’t help that they’ve historically been ridiculously expensive for what you’re getting, with Smart selling theirs at a smidge under PHP 40K last year. That’s why the fact that satellite features can be incorporated into Android 14 means that this could bring a new, revolutionary feature set to the smartphone silhouette.

This could prove useful in areas where cell towers and other forms of communication could get destroyed by storms and other natural disasters. Connecting to a satellite makes things substantially more convenient, even in destitute areas where signal usually can’t be found. Although we’re not sure how rates would apply to this setup, as things might get a little bit expensive. Another concern could also be the support for high-volume network traffic should a lot of people decide to simultaneously connect.

We’re sure the developers at Google are thinking of ways to address these concerns. Leading hardware manufacturers such as Samsung and even Google’s in-house Pixel could be making moves as early as now. We’ll just have to wait and see.