Still haven’t found what you’re looking for? Apple’s U2 chip could help
Last time Apple was involved in a U2 launch, it didn’t end well. In 2014, the company made the now infamous decision to impose the Irish rock band on every iTunes library, and every iPhone, whether we were fans or not. Needless to say, the company was forced to issue an update that let users remove the tracks, lest everyone not share the musical preferences of middle-aged California tech executives.
So it is with some trepidation that almost a decade on, Apple is once again trumpeting U2. But mercifully, this time it isn’t the band, but the name of the company’s newly upgraded Ultra-Wideband (UWB) chip, replacing the U1 inside every iPhone 15.
In a nutshell, UWB is used as a specialist location chip for almost millimetre-precision wayfinding. For example, if you have an Apple AirTag, which also contains a UWB chip, you can use your iPhone to zero in on your wayward wallet, keys or kitten.
Apple promises the new chip will be capable of doing even more. For example, at a recent event it showed off a new feature where iPhone 15 users can locate friends in crowded spaces, such as malls or music festivals, by following an onscreen arrow. The U2 chip will have a range of around 60m, almost triple the distance of the original U1 chip.
Under the hood, the key technical change is the transition from a 16nm to a 7nm chip-manufacturing process, which means that chips can pack more transistors and thus greater processing power into the same space while retaining thermal and battery efficiency. If the chip makes it into a new AirTag, we can expect longer battery life, as well as greater range.
Faraway, so close!
It may sound relatively incremental in terms of the fundamental technology, but some experts believe it could be transformative. “This is going to be delivering real spatial awareness of the phone, and that is something we’ve been betting on for many years and now it’s materialising,” said Jakub Krzych, CEO of Estimote, a company that specialises in UWB devices and technologies.
He hopes the U2 chip, paired with a more open approach from Apple, will help realise the technology’s true capabilities. “For the first two years, they didn’t open the API, which means the radio was there, the ultra-wideband radio was in every iPhone since iPhone 11, but developers couldn’t do anything with it,” Krzych told PC
