Elon Musk confirms talks with Apple about enabling Starlink for iPhone

Apple has recently revealed the new iPhone 14, and according to Apple's "Far Out" event presentation, the new device supports satellite connectivity for the first time.

The iPhone 14 is the very first Apple product to support satellite connectivity, and the company is marketing the connectivity as an emergency feature that is only meant to be used in dire situations. Apple says the feature isn't designed to replace cellular connectivity, but that hasn't stopped speculative questions such as a possible partnership between SpaceX and its Starlink satellite internet service and Apple.

Twitter user Zack tweeted, tagging SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on his personal Twitter account, and said that he was hopeful that Apple eventually partners with SpaceX to assist this new emergency SOS feature, which sparked a reply from Musk, who confirmed that SpaceX has had "promising" conversations with Apple about Starlink connectivity. The SpaceX CEO also praised Apple's iPhone team, describing them as "super smart".

• Read more: Apple CEO Tim Cook says to buy an iPhone to fix texting with Android

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Starlink illustration

Furthermore, Musk wrote that closing the link between space and phone will "work best" if mobile phone software, along with hardware, was updated to support space-based signals, instead of Starlink "emulating cell tower".

"We've had some promising conversations with Apple about Starlink connectivity. iPhone team is obv super smart. For sure, closing link from space to phone will work best if phone software & hardware adapt to space-based signals vs Starlink purely emulating cell tower," wrote Musk.

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iPhone 14

However, Apple is a company that typically waits until the technology is fully developed before jumping in on the fun - a strategy that has put them behind competitors on several technical performance fronts, but has nonetheless certainly worked. With this in mind, it would be more than likely that Apple will wait until Starlink carries out its beta test with T-Mobile, which recently entered into a partnership with SpaceX. T-Mobile's beta test is expected to begin sometime next year.

In other Elon Musk-related news, the SpaceX and Tesla founder's legal battle with Twitter over pulling out of his $44 billion deal to purchase the world's second-largest social media platform has just got more complicated, as Twitter's former head of security has released a whistleblower complaint that is being included in the case. Additionally, North Korean-backed hackers have lost multiple millions to the US government in one of the largest cryptocurrency seizures in the history of the world.

• Read more: Elon Musk's legal battle with Twitter just got a lot more complicated
• Read more: North Korean-backed hackers lose millions to US government

Separately, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs' daughter has taken to Instagram to poke some fun at Apple's design for its new iPhone 14 and its lackluster aesthetic changes. For more on those stories, check out the below link.

• Read more: Steve Jobs' daughter has mocked Apple's new iPhone 14 design