iPhone 4S supports both GPS, GLONASS

Apple’s new iPhone 4S, which came on sale on Friday, is the first globally sold smart phone that supports the Russian GLONASS navigation system along with GPS, the company’s phone manual said. The Apple webpage with iPhone 4S specifications did not originally contain the information about supporing GLONASS, which can be seen in cache data on Yandex and Yahoo! search engines. A representative of Apple in Russia referred to the product specifications on the company’s website without any further comments. According to IHS iSuppli company, chipset Qualcomm MDM6610 is responsible for navigation systems and data transfer in iPhone 4S mobile phone network. But a Qualcomm representative declined to comment. The use of hybrid signal receivers simultaneously from both navigation systems helps reduce the time and improve the quality of positioning. iPhone hit the shelves in seven countries on Friday: the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Australia and Japan. Russia will hopefully receive iPhone 4S before the end of the year, experts said. On Monday, Apple said iPhone 4S sales soared to four million within three days from Friday, which is twice as much as the previous iPhone model’s record.