Elon Musk Battled Apple Over Satellite Features

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been embroiled in a battle with Apple over its satellite connectivity features, according to The Information.

The report claims when SpaceX CEO Elon Musk heard that Apple was planning to announce a satellite connectivity feature for the iPhone 14 in partnership with Globalstar, he approached the company with an offer. He proposed that SpaceX would exclusively provide satellite connectivity to iPhones for 18 months, for an upfront cost of $5 billion. After that, Apple would pay SpaceX $1 billion per year for Starlink service.

Musk threatened that if Apple did not agree to a deal with SpaceX within 72 hours, he would announce a similar satellite feature on his own that could work with iPhones. Apple rejected the proposal, and two weeks before the iPhone 14 was announced SpaceX revealed a partnership with T-Mobile that allowed smartphone users to send and receive text messages in areas with no reception using Starlink.

SpaceX has also filed legal challenges to Globalstar's use of the radio spectrum it has licensed, which could cripple the iPhone's satellite service if they succeed. As part of this litigation, SpaceX challenged Globalstar's application to launch new satellites in 2023, accusing the satellite company of underutilizing the spectrum it already possessed. SpaceX accused the company of trying to block competition by hogging spectrum for itself.

SpaceX also named Apple in the regulatory filings, which apparently irked Apple executives who wanted to keep their distance from the conflict. Moreover, Apple employees are said to believe that Musk's close relationship with the Trump administration could give him an advantage over Apple and others with the FCC.

More recently, Apple and SpaceX have clashed over how far Apple would support SpaceX's partnership with T-Mobile. Over the past year, Musk asked Apple to support the T-Mobile satellite feature across a broad range of its iPhone models, which would help maximize the potential market for the service, but Apple was reluctant to support the service on models older than the iPhone 14, which frustrated Musk.

The series of satellite connectivity spats added to animosity between Musk and Apple, who have also grappled with disagreements over App Store fees. In recent years, Musk has plotted the idea of building his own phone to get around Apple's "gatekeeper" position in the market. Musk has reportedly discussed Tesla building the phone and satellite connectivity being provided by Starlink.

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