Apple iPhone 15 Pro and its elder sibling have been eye candies on the internet. And, if that wasn’t enough, it has also been praised by the government lately. MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar praised two achievements of India: one that Made in India iPhones will be available as soon as all other iPhones, and second, Apple’s new iPhone Pro series comes equipped with NavIC technology.
India’s homegrown answer to the U.S.’s GPS, Russia’s GLONASS, China’s BeiDou, and EU’s Galileo will be integrated into smartphones by 2025, as per the order issued. The arguments are there, but praises have never been enough for Apple from the Centre that notes if a company like Apple can do this, others should also follow.
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Indian government believes that NavIC can provide “more accurate” information with precise timings, and forecasts. And, there’s a “Make In India” label attached to it which may also improve the economy.
What is NavIC?
NavIC stands for Navigation with Indian Constellation and is developed by ISRO, Indian Space Research Organisation. It includes 7 satellites in space and some stations on the ground. Out of the 7 satellites, 3 stay in one spot high above the Earth, and 4 move around a bit in the sky. On the ground, there are different stations like a control center, a place for accurate timing, stations to check distance and safety, stations to send and receive signals, and more.
It has two services: one for regular people (Standard Position Service or SPS) and another for important government use (Restricted Service or RS). It covers not only India but also an area 1500 km beyond India’s borders. It’s known for being very accurate, with location accuracy better than 20 meters and timing accuracy better than 50 nanoseconds. NavIC can work together with other navigation systems like GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou.
The main difference between NavIC and other global navigation systems is that NavIC mainly focuses on India and a bit beyond, while the other systems go all around the Earth twice every day.
Smartphone maker distress over production cost
After the order issued by MoS Electronics & IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar, if smartphone companies were to integrate NavIC in India, the makers need to make some changes to their phone’s chips and hardware, but these changes aren’t any major. But, makers say there are other expenses involved too. They believe this might lead to higher prices for phones on average.
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