India Pushes Apple, Samsung to Focus On 5G Software Upgrades

India’s government has called for Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and other smartphone makers to focus on releasing 5G software upgrades in the country amid concerns that many of their devices still require some work to operate the service properly.

5G services in India started being offered at the start of October, with the country’s telecommunications giant Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. announcing to provide the service in four cities, while rival Bharti Airtel Ltd. will be offering the service in eight locations.

The two companies also said the 5G service would be expanded in 2023.

Smartphone Makers Still Need Time

India has stated that releasing 5G in the world’s second-biggest smartphone market would provide high-speed internet to people and bring, at the same time, socio-economic advantages to sectors such as agriculture and health.

However, it was reported that Apple’s iPhone models, including the recently launched iPhone 14, and many of Samsung’s premier smartphones still lack the software necessary to enable 5G in India.

With such an issue, top bureaucrats from the country’s telecoms and information technology (IT) departments are set to head a meeting on Wednesday about possibly adopting the high-speed network earlier.

A government document showed that executives from Apple, Samsung, Vivo Communication Technology Co. Ltd., Xiaomi Corp., Reliance, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea Ltd. had been asked to take part in the meeting.

The meeting’s agenda includes discussions on prioritizing the launch of 5G software upgrades.

An industry source said telecom and smartphone firms have been talking with each other. Still, they are unable to immediately solve compatibility issues between the particular 5G technology of India’s telecom companies and phone software.

According to Airtel’s website, Apple is yet to update the software for all its 5G-compatible iPhone 12 and 14 devices. Another source familiar with the matter stated that the US tech giant was performing tests and confirming different 5G offerings from Indian network providers.

Airtel also said many of Samsung’s models were in the same situation, while over three dozen of China’s Xiaomi and Vivo are ready to adopt its 5G service.