5G services will be available by mid-November to December to users who have premium Apple and Samsung 5G handsets, according to a statement shared by the OEMs on Wednesday.

Responding to users’ complaints that they were unable to access the 5G network provided by Airtel and Jio in select cities, despite owning high-priced 5G handsets, Apple and Samsung clarified the timeline by which they will be providing the necessary software update to make their devices 5G-enabled. 

iPhone maker Apple will roll out software updates in December to enable 5G services. “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 is completed. 5G will be enabled via a software update and will start rolling out to iPhone users in December,”  Apple said in a statement on Wednesday. 

OTA updates

Similarly, Samsung shared a statement with businessline, “We are working closely with our operator partners and are committed to rolling out OTA updates across all our 5G devices by mid-November 2022, enabling Indian consumers to experience 5G seamlessly. ”

Samsung and Apple were the only OEMs, as per a list provided by Airtel, which have not carried out the necessary OTA updates which will enable their devices to connect to Airtel’s non-standalone 5G network.

Jio yet to provide list

Jio is yet to provide a clear list of the devices that will be able to connect to its standalone 5G network. Therefore presently it is unknown whether OEMs besides Apple and Samsung need to conduct OTA updates to connect to Jio’s network.

At present, it is clear that Airtel 5G users will be able to connect to the Airtel network in 8 cities, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Siliguri, Varanasi, and Nagpur, by winter. 

The Department of Telecommunications met with smartphone makers and operators on Wednesday to ascertain the exact timelines by when 5G handsets will be able to connect to the operators’ 5G network. 

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