India in talks to replace GPS with NavIC system in smartphones, which means

The Indian government wants smartphone makers like Xiaomi, Apple, and Samsung to make their phones compatible with NavIC Indian constellation navigation, India's native navigation system that competes with the country's Global Positioning System, or GPS. .

The news of phones needing NavIC support was cited from multiple sources in a Reuters report this week. Brands making such drastic changes could drive down the price of the phone, which has been rising for several years.

The report mentions that the government wants to move away from GPS which is US based know-how. As part of its self-sufficiency mission, NavIC is rumored to be more suitable for navigating India as it comes from the nation that provides it.

He also goes on to say that the government proposal includes the mandatory addition of NavIC within the hardware configuration, although there may be GPS as well. Such changes will prompt phone makers to completely overhaul their design and manufacturing plans. That view was reportedly shared by Samsung and Xiaomi, who held face-to-face conferences with the ministry over the past month.

The January 1 deadline appears to be quite a tight date for such changes, with the report mentioning that phone brands have been looking until 2025 for such implementations to come back into effect on the hardware side.

The addition of a new navigation system will not only affect phone manufacturers, but also chipset manufacturers. Neither the companies nor ISRO have commented on this story, but developments suggest that the Indian government needs to add NavIC to the tech ecosystem in India.

Xiaomi has several phones that claim to support NavIC, but changing the company's navigation dynamics in such a short time may not be possible for the events in question. The ministry has refuted Reuters' claims in its report, saying it has no plans to port NavIC to phones anytime soon.

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