The Huawei Mate 50 line came out last year, and it can talk to satellites. But the phones couldn’t make calls; they could only send texts through satellite. Huawei is now making the Mate 60 series, which should also be able to talk to satellites. But thanks to new power amplifier chips, the next phones might even be able to make speech calls.
Power amplifier (PA) chips for the Huawei Mate 60 series are likely to be made in China. The Tiantong-1 satellite mobile transmission system needs these PA chips in order to work. The satellite system can be used to talk on the phone, send pictures, get an exact location, and report data.
In devices that use these satellite technologies, PA chips are very important. They are currently built into Huawei’s Mate X3 and P60 series phones, which can use SMS to talk to satellites back and forth. The radio integrated circuit (RF-IC) sends a high-frequency signal to these chips, which boost it to the right level and send it to an antenna. This process of amplifying is necessary for satellite transmission, including voice calls, to work well.
The PA chips that are believed to be in the Huawei Mate 60 series are not made by Huawei. Instead, the company has given this job to a Chinese chipmaker that has not been named. Even though it hasn’t been confirmed yet, the fact that these chips are in Huawei Mate 60 phones says that they might be able to make voice calls via satellite.
If this comes out to be true, it would be the first time a smartphone was able to make voice calls through satellite connectivity. For some background, the iPhone 14 series from Apple can only make SOS calls through satellite.
Satellite connection on phones is a new technology, and phone companies are racing to add it.
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