iOS 18.5 just brought satellite support to older iPhones — but there's a catch "We’ve done extensive testing on the ground to prepare for this first mission, but there are some things you can only learn in flight, and this will be the first time we’ve flown our final satellite design and the first time we’ve deployed so many satellites at once," Rajeev Badyal, vice president of Project Kuiper, said in a statement. What is Project Kuiper? We have a more detailed guide to Project Kuiper, but basically, Amazon's satellite internet service has been in the works since at least 2018. The company got approval to start launching satellites in 2020, and an announcement was made in 2021 that launches would start occurring in 2022. Though that expected launch was only for a couple of prototype satellites. The orbital system will be built on 3,200 LEO satellites. By comparison, SpaceX's Starlink constellation has over 7,000 LEO satellites that it's been launching since 2019. Similar to Starlink, there are or will be multiple offerings for Project Kuiper's technology back here on Earth. One offering will be a small 7-inch square designed dish weighing about 1 pound that can get speeds up to 100Mbps. It's a competitor to the Starlink Mini which released last summer. Sign up to get the BEST of Tom's Guide direct to your inbox. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. To further compete with Starlink and SpaceX, Amazon plans to offer bigger dishes for residential and businesses that will get up to 1Gbps. The terminals are expected to be produced for "less than $400 each," which may be subsidized by the company to attract early customers. “No matter how the mission unfolds, this is just the start of our journey, and we have all the pieces in place to learn and adapt as we prepare to launch again and again over the coming years," Badyal said. More from Tom's Guide