Bharti Airtel has become the first telecom brand to launch commercial 5G in India. The telco announced its 5G services earlier this month in the country and it is already available in eight different cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Varanasi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Siliguri, and Nagpur.
This means if you have a 5G Android smartphone, you are all set to use the 5G service by the brand. However, if you own an iPhone you won’t be able to use Airtel 5G even if the device supports 5G. That’s because Apple has to enable it, as stated by Randeep Sekhon, Airtel’s Chief Technology officer.
Airtel has confirmed that its 5G services won’t work even on the newest iPhones, mainly because Apple is yet to open the services for 5G in India. Airtel is reportedly setting up special networks for them, revealed Sekhon (via IndianExpress).
The telco won’t be sending an OTA update for 5G to work, instead, Apple has to push a software update to support 5G services on iPhones.
Airtel 5G is currently the talk of the town since it has become the first to offer 5G in eight different cities. It has defeated Reliance Jio and VI as Jio will provide its 5G services only on Diwali, whereas, VI is yet to confirm the rollout schedule.
If you are someone who has just bought an iPhone 14 and has an Airtel SIM, 5G will still not work. Only Apple can make it work by pushing an update.
Interestingly, 5G will work with existing 4G SIMs that you currently have on your phones. 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 the 5G services of Airtel. Not just Airtel, but any telecom brand. Older iPhones below iPhone 11 do not have 5G bands, hence no 5G connectivity on those phones.