I see that some (or all?) Android devices that support Galileo global positioning system are deliberately programmed to self-disable their Galileo support when used in USA or US territories.
This applies to Sony Xperia XZ Premium, for one example, whose hardware supports GPS, GLONASS, BDS and Galileo. According to the official response, it is not a matter of region-specific firmware, but rather a purposely programmed real-time behavior: any XZ Premium device, regardless of its region of origin, will see Galileo satellites outside of USA, but inside USA it will deliberately pretend that they don't exist.
What is the reason for this behavior?
Is this some sort of company-specific patent or legal issue?
Or is it some kind of US or European regulation?
Best Answer
This is not a technical reason (Gallileo satellite fly above the US and could work above the US like in other places of the world), but this is a trade law issue, as stated in "inside GNSS":
more details here
Europe is the first — and thus far, only — GNSS system operator to request such a waiver (GLONASS and Beidou didn't ask). As far as I know, they are still discussions between Europe and the US, including a big debate around PRS (see this post of november 2017).