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According to the official tech specs page for the iPhone 4S, Apple has added support for GLONASS in addition to GPS on its latest gadget and GLONASS stands for Globalnaya Navigazionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema or Global Navigation Satellite System when translated from Russian. GLONASS is Russia’s alternative to the United States’ Global Positioning System (GPS) and it’s network comprises of 24 satellites that achieved full global coverage as recently as the beginning of this month. GPS has a little more accuracy than GLONASS in most parts of the globe, but the latter provides better mapping of the northern areas of our planet and Qualcomm says GLONASS improves GPS accuracy in urban environments by 50 percent……………

Apple isn’t a company that adds features which aren’t universally supported and the iPhone 4S still lacks a 4G radio for the same reasons. Apple’s iPhone 4S supports Russia’s Glonass global navigation system, according to specifications for the new handset, an addition by the U.S. technology company that could prompt rival smart-phone manufacturers to follow suit. Glonass is the Russian answer to the GPS navigation system and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is tipped to win the country’s upcoming presidential election, has thrown his support behind the technology. In July, Mr. Putin said he supported the possibility of a ban on mobile devices that lack Glonass chipsets, in order to protect Russia’s national interests. The latest iPhone model was launched in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Japan last week and is set to hit Russian stores later this year. That the handset features the chip that supports Glonass is an indicator of a new trend, said Vladimir Karpenko of market research firm J’son & Partners Consulting. Major chip makers including Qualcomm Inc., which makes chipsets used in the iPhone 4S, as well as Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd and Texas Instruments Inc. last year said they would made chipsets that support Glonass across the globe, not just in Russia. This means all phones set for launch late this year and beyond will support Glonass. The reason behind this move to support Glonass is that chipset makers have started to struggle to come up with new value-adding features for their chips. GLONASS network will provide full global coverage and Apple may be relying on this chip from Broadcom that combines Bluetooth + FM + GNSS solutions in a tiny package. It also supports Bluetooth 4.0, first utilized on an iOS device with iPhone 4S.

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