How to Activate and Enable 5G in iPhone in India

If you have an iPhone and want to enable 5G network support in your mobile phone, this article will help you. Recently an AskVG reader asked me how to enable 5G network in iPhone in India after installing iOS 16.2 version, so I decided to write this article to help all iPhone users. We’ll also discuss which Indian cities currently have 5G network connectivity in India and which telecom operators (Jio, Airtel, Vi, BSNL) are providing 5G connectivity in India.

Many iPhone models come with built-in 5G network support but Apple didn’t activate 5G network support in these devices by default in many countries. For example, all iPhone devices launched in India didn’t have 5G network option enabled. The 5G network option was disabled or hidden by default. It was done as there was no 5G network availability at that time in India. Later Apple enabled 5G network support in all supported iPhone devices via iOS version update.

In this article, we’ll learn how to activate and enable 5G network connection in Apple’s iPhone.

Which iPhones Support 5G Network Connectivity?

First of all, let’s see which iPhone devices come with built-in 5G network support.

iPhone 12 and all later smartphones from Apple support 5G network which means following iPhone models can be used to get 5G network connectivity:

• iPhone 12, 12 Mini, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max
• iPhone 13, 13 Mini, 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max
• iPhone SE 3rd generation (2022)
• iPhone 14, 14 Plus, 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max

PS: iPhone SE 2022 (3rd generation) doesn’t support mmWave (millimeter-wave) 5G spectrum which can provide significantly faster 5G connection. It only comes with Sub-6 GHz 5G band. Sub-6 GHz 5G is a low or mid 5G band and mmWave is a high 5G band. All other above mentioned premium iPhone models (12, 13, 14) support both 5G bands.

If you have an older iPhone model such as iPhone 11, iPhone X, iPhone 7/8 or iPhone SE previous generations, you are our of luck. These iPhone models can’t be used to get 5G network.

Which iOS Version Enables 5G Network Support in iPhone?

When Apple launched iPhone newer models in India and many other countries, the company kept 5G network support disabled as there were no cellular networks present in those countries providing 5G network connectivity.

Recently Apple activated 5G network support in all supported iPhone models via iOS 16.2 update as mentioned in this article.

So if you don’t have 5G network support in your new iPhone, make sure to update to iOS 16.2 or later versions to activate 5G network connectivity.

You can update your iPhone to the latest iOS version by going to Settings -> General -> Software Update page.

How to Activate and Enable 5G Network Support in iPhone?

Even after updating to latest iOS version, you’ll need to manually enable 5G network connectivity in your iPhone.

Following steps will help you in activating and enabling 5G network in your iPhone:

1. Open Settings app in your iPhone and tap on Mobile Data option.

2. Now tap on Mobile Data Options.

3. Now tap on Voice & Data option.

4. Now select 5G Auto or 5G On option.

If you want faster 5G connectivity all the times, select 5G On option but it’ll drain the battery faster.

If you want to save battery power and want iPhone to use 5G automatically, select 5G Auto option. It’ll enable Smart Data mode and will only use 5G when required. Other times, your iPhone will use 4G LTE to save battery life.

That’s it. You have successfully enabled 5G network support in your iPhone.

If your cellular network is providing 5G connectivity in your area, you’ll start receiving 5G network connection in your phone. If your cellular service provider is not providing 5G network, you’ll need to wait or switch to a 5G network provider.

Which Cellular Networks in India Provide 5G Connectivity?

Now the question comes which cellular networks/telecom carriers in India are providing 5G network connectivity at the moment?

Only Reliance Jio and Airtel are providing 5G network connectivity in India which is also under beta testing. Both telecom operators have started offering 5G network connectivity in more than 50 cities in India including Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, etc.

At the time of writing this article, following cities have 5G network connectivity in India:

Cities/Areas Where Jio 5G Network is Available:

• Delhi-NCR
• Mumbai
• Kolkata
• Varanasi
• Chennai
• Bengaluru
• Hyderabad
• Pune
• Nathdwara
• Kochi
• Visakhapatnam
• Vijayawada
• Guntur
• Tirumala
• Gujarat
• Bhubaneswar
• Cuttack
• Bhopal
• Indore
• Trivandrum
• Mysuru
• Nashik
• Aurangabad
• Chandigarh Tricity
• Lucknow

Cities/Areas Where Airtel 5G Plus Network is Available:

• Delhi
• Mumbai
• Chennai
• Bengaluru
• Hyderabad
• Siliguri
• Nagpur
• Varanasi
• Panipat
• Gurugram
• Guwahati
• Patna
• Lucknow
• Shimla
• Imphal
• Ahmedabad
• Vizag
• Pune
• Jammu and Srinagar

We’ll keep updating the list as soon as more cities get 5G network support in India.

Other telecom operators i.e. Vodafone Idea (VI) and BSNL are yet to announce their 5G service launch.

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