As the only smartphone in China that doesn't yet support the BeiDou Satellite Navigation System (BDS), Apple's iPhone may soon be making a change.
Apple's new iPhone 12 will start supporting BDS, after multiple generations of iPhones didn't support the system, according to Sina Tech.
Ran Chengqi, BDS spokesperson and director of China's satellite navigation system office, said in a media interview Wednesday that sooner or later, Apple will use the BDS because the BDS is good, of course they have to use a better system.
Apple is the only phone vendor in China that does not work with BeiDou
And today's latest report seems to validate Ran Chengqi's claim, mentioning that Apple has tuned the performance of the iPhone 12 series, and the tuning includes compatibility testing of the BDS.
According to the report, Apple will make a clear announcement on its official website that the new generation of iPhone will support BDS after the launch of the new iPhone in an effort to reduce the number of complaints from users.
BDS is one of the four major global navigation networks, the others being GPS in the United States, GLONASS in Russia and Galileo in the European Union.
Most smartphones sold in China support the BDS, and smartphones supporting high-precision applications are already available, Ran Chengqi said at a press conference on Monday.
Apple has said that BDS is already part of the existing location data system for the company's product iPhone 11.
However, in the case of the latest iPhone 11 series, for example, Apple's Chinese website shows that the iPhone 11's positioning features support GPS, GNSS, digital compass, wireless LAN, cellular networks and iBeacon micro-location, with the exception of BDS support, which is not listed.
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Huawei's P40, on the other hand, lists all four of these systems separately. Samsung S10+, OPPO, Xiaomi and other phone brands also support BDS.
Ran Chengqi previously said that BDS has a global positioning accuracy of more than 10 meters and a timing accuracy of more than 20 nanoseconds, with even better performance in the Asia-Pacific region.
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So far, BDS has been used in transportation, public security, disaster relief, agriculture and urban governance, and has been integrated into China's critical infrastructure, including power, finance and telecommunications, Ran said.
Currently, BDS services cover more than 200 countries and regions, with more than 100 million users and more than 200 million daily services.
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BDS-enabled products have been exported to more than 120 countries and regions, serving hundreds of millions of users.
BDS-based services have been successfully applied in the fields of surveying and mapping, agriculture, and digital construction in ASEAN, South Asia, Eastern Europe, West Asia and African member countries.
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