Following Apple, Qualcomm with Snapdragon Satellite, and other manufacturers, Samsung has also decided to provide the ability to connect smartphones to satellite communication. The launch of the technology was officially announced at the end of February this year. Standardized 5G modem technology for non-terrestrial networks (NTN) will be integrated by the company into its own Exynos modems of the latest generation.

Satellite communication for smartphones is still a hot topic, and that’s why Samsung is joining the race of implementing 5G NTN standards by supporting it on the company’s devices. This technology opens new horizons of communication capabilities – users can use the network even in places where standard mobile network is unavailable.  

“Samsung NTN technology, developed in compliance with the latest 5G NTN standards defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP Release 17), enables the interoperability and scalability of services offered by global telecommunications operators, as well as mobile device and chip manufacturers,” said the manufacturer’s press release.

Technically, communication will be provided by satellites placed in low Earth orbit (LEO). The basis of the technology is Samsung’s own modem platform Exynos Modem 5300, which the company presented at the end of February 2023.

The technology ensures clear communication with satellites, guaranteeing a low degree of frequency deviation. New modems developed on the basis of this technology are able to send and receive SMS messages and even support the exchange of high-resolution images and videos.

NTN technology uses satellites and other extraterrestrial communication devices for connection to telecommunication systems of the regions that have been yet unapproachable for terrestrial networks because of their geographical location. 

5G NTN Modem Technology Non-Terrestrial Networks

All this allows you to expand the possibilities that exist within the framework of other solutions for connecting to the Internet via satellite. In addition, NTN’s standardized NB-IoT (NarrowBand-IoT) technology is expected to be implemented in next-generation modem platforms. This may eliminate the need to use a separate high-performance antenna chip in smartphones in the future.

Samsung hopes to offer smartphone manufacturers more design flexibility in the future. However, the manufacturer did not say when this will happen. There are also currently no specific details about the 5G NTN modem.