Bharti Airtel has become the first telecom brand to launch commercial 5G in India. The telco announced its 5G services in the country earlier this month and it is already available in eight different cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Varanasi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Siliguri and Nagpur.
This means that if you have a 5G Android smartphone, you are all set to use the 5G service by the brand. However, if you have an iPhone, you will not be able to use Airtel 5G even if the device supports 5G. That’s because Apple has to enable it, said Randeep Sekhon, chief technology officer at Airtel.
Airtel has confirmed that its 5G services will not work on the new iPhone as well, mainly because Apple has not yet opened services for 5G in India. Airtel is reportedly setting up exclusive networks for them, Sekhon reveals (via) indianexpress,
The telco will not send an OTA update for 5G to work, instead, Apple will have to push a software update to support 5G services on iPhones. Even if you are someone who has just bought an iPhone 14 and you have an Airtel SIM, 5G will not work. Only Apple can make it work by pushing updates.
Airtel 5G is currently the talk of the town as it has become the first company to offer 5G in eight different cities. This has defeated Reliance Jio and VI as Jio will provide its 5G services only during Diwali time, whereas, VI is yet to confirm the rollout schedule.
Interestingly, 5G will work with the existing 4G SIM that your phone currently has. No need to get a new SIM card.
Of course, not all iPhones will support 5G. All iPhones above iPhone 12 to the latest iPhone 14 will be able to use Airtel’s 5G services. Not just airtel, but any telecom brand. Older iPhones below the iPhone 11 don’t have 5G bands, so older iPhones don’t have 5G connectivity.
Post 5G will only work on iPhone when Apple opens up to 5G services via the update for the first time on BGR India.
