Apple today rolled out a rather rare iOS firmware update. Its rare because this firmware is only meant for the two new iPhones, and that too in one particular region. iOS 7.0.5 for iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c has been released to fix “network provisioning” issues on various Chinese models, Apple hasn’t specified exactly what those issues are. Users who already have iOS 7.0.4 installed on their iPhones can simply grab the update over the air, it weighs in at just 35MB. As you were, rest of the world, the update is exclusive to Chinese customers.
It is certainly interesting to see Apple act fairly quickly and get this update out the door, if only for a small segment. It can be presumed that users in China were possibly facing major issues which is why Apple didn’t wait to bundle the fixes in a universal update. In the coming weeks, Apple is expected to launch iOS 7.1. Right now the firmware is in fourth beta, its expected to bring a few visual enhancements as well as a couple of new features. iOS in the Car, a feature that we first saw back at WWDC 2013, is also believed to be activated in iOS 7.1. So far Apple hasn’t said when we can expect said firmware to drop.