Google has announced the timeline for when the Pixel 6a, Pixel 7, and Pixel 7 Pro will receive necessary updates to unlock 5G support for India users. In a statement given out to media, the Mountain View company has revealed that the aforementioned Pixel smartphones will get the said over-the-air (OTA) update in the first quarter of 2023. It was speculated, previously, that the 5G rollout for Pixel phones will happen sometime in December, similar to Apple and Samsung but turns out, that is no longer the case.

The timeline announced puts Google way behind virtually every major competitor in the market. Despite bringing a comprehensive portfolio of devices spanning multiple price points to the country— for the first time in a long time — 5G support has eluded Google’s Pixel 6a, Pixel 7, and Pixel 7 Pro so far which is to say users can’t make use of the fifth-gen connectivity standard on them even though all of them are 5G-ready out-of-the-box, technically.

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Google says it is working “actively” with Indian carriers on the various requirements that go into provisioning 5G and looking forward to rolling out support in Q1, 2023. The wording seems to suggest Google isn’t entirely sure about how soon though and the timeline quoted could mean anything from January to March. Many had hoped for Google to release the update alongside the December Pixel feature drop which brought a slew of features including clear voice calling and free VPN for users in select regions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged-off 5G services rollout in India on October 1, 2022 during the India Mobile World Congress event. Major telecom operators like Airtel and Reliance Jio have started rolling out 5G for users in select cities, following the announcement. Others like Vodafone Idea (Vi) and BSNL will follow suit, soon enough.

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