Geely CEO wants company to deliver smartphone with satellite service support

The Chairman of Geely, Eric Li, founded a new company in September last year. The Xingji Technology primary focus are high-end mobile phones, R&D, smart wearable technology and ecological construction - according to the company filings. In July this year, a new venture was established involving Xingji and Meizu - the Hubei Xingji Meizu Holding Co. with Xingji taking over 79% stake in the troubled phone maker.

Yesterday, the company announced that it will begin to promote low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication technology. Ambitious and unexpected but at the same time it’s an obvious direction for future comms solutions. Then the company proceeded to announce that it will introduce the world’s first consumer-grade smartphone directly connected to LEO satellites.

It could be a service similar to what T-Mobile and Starlink just announced or perhaps even the very same thing with a new marketing label.

Wang Yong, who is the CEO of Xinji Technology, offered more details on the proposed service. The product is supposed to be launched next year and will bring a new interactive design called “Multimodal Bionic Interactive Design.”

The company is proposing a technology for global coverage through LEO satellites with smartphones directly connected through 5G and NFC in order to never lose the connection. Mr Wang said the LEO satellites can provide a wide-coverage, high speed and low-latency stable connection for full scenario services.

From next year, all devices running on the upcoming Android 14 will be able to take advantage of direct satellite connections and it is great to see another company jumping on board to offer this service to customers. But claiming it to be a world's first is a proper stretch when expectations are a dozen companies will launch their own products within days of each other.

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