Apple and Samsung to upgrade phone software for 5G in India

Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics (OTC:SSNLF) will upgrade the software of their 5G-enabled phones in India by December, they said on Wednesday, as Indian authorities pressed mobile phone makers to adopt the high-speed network.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) said it will make software upgrades to its latest models, including the iPhone 14, 13, 12 and iPhone SE, which industry sources say do not yet support the network. "We are working with our operator partners in India to bring iPhone users the best 5G experience as soon as network validation and testing for quality and performance is complete," Apple said in a statement. "5G will be enabled through a software update and will begin rolling out to iPhone users in December." Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 5G services to much fanfare on October 1, with leading telecom operator Reliance Jio saying it would roll out the service in four cities, while rival Bharti Airtel targeted eight cities. A Samsung (KS:005930) India spokesperson said the company will roll out updates to all 5G devices by mid-November. Officials from the Ministry of Electronics and IT on Wednesday held a meeting on 5G adoption, attended by executives from Apple, Samsung, Vivo and Xiaomi (OTC:XIACF) and telecom operators Reliance, Airtel and Vodafone (NASDAQ:VOD) Idea. The agenda for the closed-door meeting included "prioritizing" the release of software updates to support the high-speed network. Telecom players and smartphone makers are in talks with each other, but it takes time for telecom companies in India to address compatibility issues between proprietary 5G technology and phone software, an industry source said. A Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) spokesperson said on Wednesday: "Pixel 7, 7 Pro and Pixel 6a are 5G-enabled devices. We are actively working with Indian carriers to enable the functionality at the earliest." Follow Global Economic Developments on Social Media! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Facebook account! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Instagram account! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Twitter account!