Apple’s iPhone 15 Pros will feature ISRO-made GPS alternative for the first time ever

Published On: September 13, 2023

Highlights

ISRO’s NavIC is available only on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models.
This is India’s homegrown GPS system that was introduced in 2018.
It has been adopted by various OEMs for smartphones in India.

Apple’s iPhone 15 series is official with sales scheduled to start on September 22nd in global markets including India. The new iPhone 15 series come with better cameras, faster chipsets, and more importantly, USB-C ports. Another first with the iPhone 15 series is the adoption of homegrown GPS system, NavIC.

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iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max equipped with NavIC

The Pro models of the iPhone 15 series are equipped with NavIC for GPS built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). First spotted by TechCrunch, this feature is visible in the detailed spec sheet of the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. You’d have to scroll down below to find it in the cellular and wireless section. It’s however not available in the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus.

So what makes NavIC special?

Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) is a regional navigation satellite system developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It has been designed with a constellation of seven satellites that covers India and, a region up to 1500 km beyond the country’s boundary. NavIC has various applications including terrestrial, aerial and marine transportation, location-based services, and personal mobility.

The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are the first iPhones to feature ISRO’s NavIC. But its adoption has been increasing in the past couple of years on a host of smartphones from brands such as Xiaomi, OnePlus and Vivo.

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Apple has been pushing iPhone production in India with the iPhone 15 series. For the first time, iPhone 15 units assembled here will go on sale in India and some other regions at the same time as China-made units. Apple has been assembling iPhones in India since 2017 with the iPhone SE, and it has continued doing so every year. But the made-in-India iPhones usually arrive months after the global release.

With the rampant push in local production, Apple is slowly but gradually coming closer to a time when iPhones will one day be manufactured in India.