Chinese electronics major, Xiaomi announced on Tuesday that it would bring Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) NavIC navigation technology to its smartphones. Navigation with Indian Constellation or NavIC is India’s regional geo-positioning system designed which provides accurate positioning in India as well as 1,500 km around India. “We are extremely proud of the sophisticated geo-positioning tech which ISRO has devised, and even more proud to integrate it into several Xiaomi devices,” Xiaomi India’s MD Manu Kumar Jain said in a statement.
Xiaomi Phone With ISRO NavIC System Launching Very Soon
Xiaomi claimed the ISRO’s NavIC system has been enabled with a new range of Qualcomm chipsets, and they will bring the tech to multiple Xiaomi smartphones in 2020.
Jain took to Twitter to announce the next Redmi brand phone from the company will offer NaVIC support. He also tweeted a picture of himself with ISRO Chairman Dr K Sivan who spearheaded India’s moon mission. The Xiaomi executive added that the upcoming device would also be the first in the world to feature Indian positioning system.
The name of the Redmi phone with NavIC support remains unknown at this moment. It is speculated the next-gen Redmi Note series device from the Chinese firm will be the ones supporting the NavIC positioning system.
Xiaomi’s upcoming Redmi Note 9 seems the most likely candidate as the company previously launched the Redmi Note 7 and Redmi Note 5 series in the month of February.
Previously, Qualcomm had revealed that its Snapdragon 720G, Snapdragon 662 and Snapdragon 460 chips with support for NavIC, Bluetooth 5.1 and Wi-Fi 6. Xiaomi too had confirmed they would launch phones powered by these chipsets. And since Snapdragon 720G comes in Qualcomm’s lower mid-range segment, it makes perfect sense for the Note 9 series which is placed in the same tier.
As for the NavIC system, it essentially refers to Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), a collection of navigation satellites which aim to provide accurate positioning in India. The system comprises seven satellites, three in geostationary orbit over the Indian ocean and four in geosynchronous orbit. NavIC is similar to GPS and can provide location accuracy better than 20 metres.
