- Kyle Chua
How Satellite Calling Works on the Huawei Mate 60 Pro
Updated: Dec 18, 2023
The Huawei Mate 60 Pro made headlines in late-August when it was revealed that it has one feature that no other smartphone in the market today has yet – satellite calling.
Now that the new flagship has been launched, more details have been revealed about how the much-touted feature works.
Huawei says the Mate 60 Pro allows you to make and receive calls via satellite in areas where there's no cellular network coverage – a potentially life-saving feature that enables you to contact authorities during an emergency.
Previously, satellite calling tech was exclusive to satellite phones – or "sat phones," as they're commonly called – which are devices geared towards off-the-grid travellers and explorers. That makes the Mate 60 Pro the first traditional smartphone to bring satellite calling to the mass market.
There are a few caveats, however, with Huawei's implementation of the advanced feature, as reported by Huawei Central. As of writing, satellite calls is only accessible exclusively through China Telecom cards and you can apply for the service through the network provider's app.
You can choose from two monthly plans: one provides you with 80 minutes of satellite calls for 100 yuan, while the other provides with 200 minutes for 200 yuan.
Huawei said satellite calling is possible on the Huawei Mate 60 Pro thanks to its integration with the Tiantong satellite system, which is China's first mobile communications satellite system. Under the hood, the smartphone also has a dedicated chip for satellite communications. The custom chip was said to be developed with the research institute under the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation.
The Huawei Mate 60 also features a 6.82-inch OLED panel, a Kirin 9000 mobile chipset, 12GB of RAM, up to 1TB of internal storage and a 5000mAh battery cell that supports up to 88W fast charging. The smartphone is currently exclusive to China though, with the tech giant yet to announce global release plans. It starts at 6999 yuan for the variant with 512GB of storage space.
The Huawei Mate 60 Pro allows you to make and receive calls via satellite in areas where there's no cellular network coverage – a potentially life-saving feature that enables you to contact authorities during an emergency.
But, as of writing, satellite calls is only accessible exclusively through China Telecom cards and you can apply for the service through the network provider's app.
You can choose from two monthly plans: one provides you with 80 minutes of satellite calls for 100 yuan, while the other provides with 200 minutes for 200 yuan.
The Mate 60 is currently a China-exclusive release, with a starting price of 6999 yuan.