If the rumors are true, we're just a few weeks away from the official unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy S24 range – and in the meantime, unofficial leaks continue to give us an idea of what to expect from these flagship phones.
According to ETNews (through SamMobile), the Galaxy S24 phones will not come with satellite connectivity for emergency messaging, a feature Apple added to iPhones last year with the launch of the iPhone 14 series.
The idea is that if you're in trouble somewhere without any WiFi or even mobile network coverage, you can still send an emergency SOS message to share your location and get help – and the functionality works pretty well too.
Where one of the major phone makers goes, the others are usually quick to follow, but if this latest report is correct, Samsung has failed to add satellite connectivity to the Galaxy S24 range – and it's not immediately clear why.
It's coming
If the Samsung Galaxy S24 series is indeed launched without the ability to talk to satellites, it would be a surprise. The feature was originally rumored to arrive on the Galaxy S23, launched after the iPhone 14 series.
That didn't happen, of course, but then it seemed even more likely that satellite support would be built into the Samsung Galaxy S24 phones, with a Samsung executive officially saying the company was developing the technology.
These comments may give us an idea as to why the technology isn't ready yet: Samsung is apparently trying to integrate two-way satellite support into its phones, instead of the one-way communication that the iPhones offer.
Maybe the functionality isn't quite ready yet – or maybe this latest report is inaccurate. We'll know for sure when the Galaxy S24 series launches, and that seems almost certain to happen on January 17, 2024.