Apple Reportedly Set to Roll Out iPhone 5G Support in India in December [Updated] - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Apple Reportedly Set to Roll Out iPhone 5G Support in India in December [Updated]

by

Apple will add support for 5G on compatible iPhones for Indian carriers through a software update as soon as December, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to ET News.

iphone 12 5g
According to the publication, Apple and the Indian carrier Airtel will meet this week to discuss why Apple's iPhones are not compatible with India's 5G networks. Apple is reportedly already testing 5G support on iPhones in Mumbai and New Delhi, with an update officially adding support possibly being rolled out in December, the report said, citing a source.

A separate report from Reuters says the Indian government is placing pressure on Apple and Samsung to adopt 5G support for their latest smartphones. Apple first added support for 5G with the iPhone 12 in 2020, and two years later, Indian iPhone customers are still unable to use the newer and faster network. On Wednesday, the Indian government, alongside executives from Apple, Samsung, and leading carriers in the country, will meet "to prioritize" adding support for 5G on the latest smartphones.

Update: In a statement to TechCrunch, Apple has confirmed it will release a software update in December to add support for 5G on compatible iPhones for Indian carriers.

We are working with our carrier partners in India to bring the best 5G experience to iPhone users as soon as network validation and testing for quality and performance are completed. 5G will be enabled via a software update and will start rolling out to iPhone users in December.

Tags: 5G, India

Popular Stories

imac video apple feature

Apple Released Yet Another New Product Today

Friday March 20, 2026 2:39 pm PDT by
Apple has unveiled a whopping nine new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, AirPods Max 2, and now the Nike Powerbeats Pro 2. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as...
Read Full Article
iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Wednesday March 18, 2026 7:39 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another six months or so, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component...
Read Full Article • 80 comments
ios 26 4 pastel

iOS 26.4: Top 10 New Features Coming to Your iPhone

Friday March 20, 2026 2:44 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 isn't the major update with new Siri features that we hoped for, but there are some useful quality of life improvements, and a little bit of fun with an AI playlist generator and new emoji characters. Playlist Playground - Apple Music has a Playlist Playground option that lets you generate playlists from text-based descriptions. You can include moods, feelings, activities, or...
Read Full Article • 44 comments

Top Rated Comments

AMagicianNamedJOBs Avatar
AMagicianNamedJOBs
45 months ago
They’re not missing much. 5G was completely overhyped, the leap from 3G to 4G brought the real mobile revolution IMO.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
K
Kottu
45 months ago
In certain places within city limits I get 5G in my 12PM since last year in Sweden. Speed varies between 60 mbps to 1600 mbps. But is it gonna be a revolution for most of us? I am satisfied with 4G in my mobile as I don't play games with need of low latency. At home I have fiber. I can understand the need of 5G for people who don't/can't have fiber at home and need a faster connection.

Apple knew that India is rolling out 5G in October. So, they should have prepared to support their customers at once. Especially when low priced Chinese phones support 5G from the day one!
In India 4G speeds are low so 5G will make things much easier as it can accommodate more connections than 4G. For many in India mobile is their modem, router etc..
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C
CarAnalogy
45 months ago

“Apple and the Indian carrier Airtel will meet this week to discuss why Apple's iPhones are not compatible with India's 5G networks.”

Simple, it’s not supported because of a conditional statement in the code. 😉
Yeah I don’t understand why they are meeting like they are trying to solve a mystery. The network operator in question is not certified in iOS, just like Google Fi. End of story. As for why, it’s usually a business decision not to pay Apple to certify it, which is why Google Fi is not certified.

So as usual the answer to just about everything that doesn’t make sense is “money.”
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AppleTO Avatar
AppleTO
45 months ago
“Apple and the Indian carrier Airtel will meet this week to discuss why Apple's iPhones are not compatible with India's 5G networks.”

Simple, it’s not supported because of a conditional statement in the code. 😉
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
R
RajBan
45 months ago

Strange. Why does the phone need a software update to use Indian 5G networks? Surely it would just be a carrier version update? Does anyone know the technical reason behind this?
They have disabled the 5g selection in India. As someone commented it's most likely some conditional statements coupled with config items that needs to be changed and a patch needs to be pushed for India devices. Probably they wanted to avoid 5G as an option due to lack of commercial provider to avoid unnecessary customer selections.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D
davidf18
45 months ago

Totally agree. I live in a major metro area in the US and 5G is just so unreliable that I decided to toggle the settings to 4G-LTE permanently.

US cities are too spread out, losing connectivity while driving is a thing. And when reaching a destination I often had to put my iPhone in airplane mode briefly just to kickstart the modem again, it was so annoying.
You should switch to Verizon. I have the iPhone 14 Pro Max and I get 200-300+ Mbps downloads on the 5G C-band in very crowded Manhattan. I've been able to leave my phone on only 5G since the iPhone 12 came out about 2 years ago.

To gauge your signal strength:
call *3001#12345#* for Field Test Mode
Look under 5G NR Rach Attempt
Look at RSRQ, RSRP, freq_band_ind

RSRQ is best -15 to -10 or beter
RSRP is -112 to -95 is stronger.
freq_band_ind should be 77 for C-band.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments
Related Apple News: World News | Technology | Education | Entertainment | Motoring