Three years ago, Elon Musk approached Apple with an eleventh-hour offer.

Musk had heard that Apple was about to announce a feature for the upcoming iPhone 14 in partnership with satellite firm Globalstar that would allow iPhones to send text messages to emergency services in areas without cellular reception. He wanted Apple to instead use satellite internet service from Starlink, a Globalstar rival operated by Musk's rocket company, SpaceX.

His pitch: SpaceX would agree to exclusively provide satellite connectivity to iPhones for 18 months if Apple would pay it $5 billion up front, according to two people with direct knowledge of the deal. After that period of exclusivity ended, Musk proposed that Apple pay SpaceX $1 billion a year for Starlink service, the people said. Furthermore, if Apple couldn't come to terms with SpaceX, Musk threatened to announce a similar satellite feature on his own that could work with iPhones, the people added. He gave Apple 72 hours to decide.