5G Icon Appears on Select iPhones for Russian Users as Operators Expand Coverage
Some iPhone owners in Russia have noticed a long-awaited change: the 5G icon has appeared in the status bar instead of the familiar LTE indicator. So far, the update affects only a portion of users. Details on which iPhone models, operators, and regions have received access remain undisclosed.
Apple and Russian telecom companies have not announced any mass activation of 5G on the company's devices. The operation of the fifth-generation network on Apple smartphones was recorded by a RIA Novosti correspondent.
Russian Big Four operators launched 5G networks a week earlier across 16 cities. Approximately 10 million subscribers gained potential access. At the first stage, 5G operates mainly on frequency bands previously allocated to operators for LTE, which should increase network throughput by 20-25%.
With Android devices the situation was relatively clear: the Ministry of Digital Development promised to open access for compatible devices in the near future. iPhone owners were asked to await Apple's decision, since hardware support alone is insufficient — the manufacturer must authorize smartphone operation on specific operator networks and frequency ranges.
The new observations may indicate that such activation has begun, at least for individual devices or network configurations. However, the mere appearance of the 5G icon does not yet guarantee either a mass launch or noticeable speed improvements: the result depends on coverage, frequencies, smartphone model, and network load.
If access continues to expand, owners of compatible iPhone devices will not have to remain in the LTE era while neighbors with Android devices test the new capabilities.
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