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The upcoming Apple iPhone 15 is set to get a major upgrade. In the form of a newly upgraded ultrawide band chip. No, this isn’t going to give you better 5G speeds or reception, this is a different form of ultrawide band, which Ming-Chi Kuo says will be included to allow for better optimized integration with the new Vision Pro headset.
Kuo also mentioned the that this new UWB chip would move from the 16nm process, down to a much more advanced 7nm process. This is going to allow for improved performance or reduced power consumption for nearby interactions.
Ultrawide Band is not new to the iPhone
Apple actually first added Ultrawide Band to the iPhone with the iPhone 11. It has used the U1 chip to do all sorts of location-based features, like Find My, Precision Finding and AirDrop. Apple also included the U1 chip in the Apple Series 6 and later, as well as the HomePod Mini, second-generation HomePod, AirTags and much more.
Ultrawide band is something that we’ve seen make its way into a lot of Android phones too, for much the same use-case. It’s a lot more accurate at precise location than just GPS.
Kuo also mentioned that the iPhone 16 coming in 2024, would feature WiFi 7 support. Kuo mentions that “which will be more conducive to Apple’s integration of hardware products running on the same local network and provide a better ecosystem experience.” WiFi 7 is set to be the next big upgrade for WiFi, with it being able to provide speeds of “at least 30 gigabits” per second. And in optimal environments it could hit 40Gbps.
It’s not surprising to see Apple planning this for the iPhone 16, in fact, they are likely already in the early planning stages for the iPhone 17 and 18 at this point. Smartphone makers need to think many years ahead, with their phones.