Apple has adopted the Indian satellite navigation system NavIC, an alternative to the Global Positioning System (GPS), for its high-end iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max models for location-based services.

This is the first time the iPhone maker has extended support for NavIC to its iPhone models.

India aims to expand NavIC coverage globally and it wants tech companies to make their devices compatible with the new standard before then.

NavIC: India’s regional navigation system

To meet the positioning, navigation and timing requirements of the nation, ISRO established a regional navigation satellite system called Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC).

NavIC coverage area includes India and a region up to 1,500 km beyond Indian boundary, according to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

NavIC signals are interoperable with the other global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals namely GPS, Glonass, Galileo and BeiDou.

India and ISRO’s stride with NavIC

“After the successful missions of Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya-L1, we have reached another big milestone with ISRO's NavIC technology. Now, for the very first time, the iPhone 15 Pro series has extended support for the NavIC technology. The endorsement of NavIC as a global positioning system technology, or a solution incorporated into the most popular and most widely used device in the world, is certainly not a small thing,” said the minister of state for electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, on Sept 14.

“We’re planning to make it a standard practice that all devices using GPS technology should have NAVIC-powered chipsets or NAVIC chips inside. When you look at the IT PLI scheme this time, it includes incentives for system designers and manufacturers who incorporate Indian-designed chips into their products,” he added.

Accord Software and Systems is the first in India to design NavIC chips. They’ve created more than a million NAVIC IC chips using advanced 28-nanometer technology.

iPhone expanding its spread in India

With iPhone 15, Apple has made India a sweet spot in its future scheme of things, as it doubles down on local manufacturing. For the first time ever, the new iPhone models are also going to be available for Indian consumers on the same day as US consumers.

Driven by the premiumisation of the smartphone market, uptick in first-time users who are shifting from Android to the Apple ecosystem and a young population, India is now among the top five global markets for Apple.

(Source: IANS)

-Edited for style

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