Apple ’s no stranger to introducing and popularize new engineering . The original iMac was n’t the first to use USB , but it drove the borrowing of the standard . Multitouch display exist before the iPhone , but it was the first veridical commercial-grade product offering it . Sometimes those technologies take a while to gestate , though . And there may be no better example in late years than Apple ’s take on radical wideband , or UWB .
Like those other technologies , extremist wideband isn’tnewas a concept , but it ’s something that has n’t really found a menage in the consumer market place . In 2019 , Apple released the iPhone 11 series and included a custom cow dung nickname the U1 . During the foundation , Apple lecture up the awing properties of the U1 , and how it could be used to not only track the location of objects with awing precision but even has the ability to guide you in the right commission towards them .
But almost a year and a one-half later , U1 remains a technology without much of an app . Yes , it ’s build in to AirDrop to show you which other devices are airless , but that only works with other U1 - enabled iPhones and it ’s more of a trial impression of concept than an existent feature of speech to swash . Other than that , there ’s really not muchtherethere — yet . With a few U1 - enable technologies waiting in the wings , 2021 finally be the breakout year for this engineering science .
The HomePod mini has a U1 chip,
With or without U1
Through last year , Apple seemed to think powerfully enough in the future potential of the U1 that it kept building it into its product . Not only do the iPhone 11 ’s successors in the iPhone 12 rail line have a U1 crisp , but both the Apple Watch Series 6 and the HomePod mini , released last fall , include it as well .
In introducing those devices , Apple did n’t spend a lot of time talking about what it might use those chips for , by from one nimble instance : a replacement for the Handoff feature that lets you channelise sound recording from your iPhone to your HomePod just by holding it nearby . The current version of this feature expend another engineering , NFC ( the same used for Apple Pay ) , but it ’s touchy and treacherous . The U1 reading is supposedly superior … but when the initial iOS 14 handout rolled around , it had n’t made the cut . Only now has the update that that does include it reached beta , so it may still be week or a calendar month by .
The HomePod miniskirt has a U1 chip ,
The HomePod mini has a U1 chip,
But the substantial proof of Apple ’s commitment to ultra wideband will be if it continue to include the U1 in its other product . Last nightfall ’s iPad Air update did n’t admit the technology , but it ’s largely require that an iPad Pro refresh will happen this bound ; it will be state if it includes the U1 , give that last year ’s meagerly update did n’t . ( Or alike telling if it does n’t . )
By the same token , Apple ’s late M1 Macs , built around Apple ’s custom atomic number 14 , do n’t sport ultra wideband either — it ’s unclear whether the society thinks it simply would n’t be useful on those devices , whether it ’s being saved for a future update , or whether it ’s decided the ship has sailed on the technology .
Tag, you’re it
With extremist wideband ’s focus on locate and take aim you to objects , the killer production for the U1 is one that Apple still has n’t release , though its existence is well attested .
There have been mass of rumors and leak about what ’s been dubbed “ AirTags , ” Apple ’s challenger to tail fob like the form sell by Tile . subsist models of these fobs have often trust on other radio technology , such as a humble - power Bluetooth variant . extremist wideband promise to make determination devices more accurate ; it can also operate at fast stop number than Bluetooth , work out through walls , and does n’t interfere with Wi - Fi , or vice versa . Plus , Apple ’s variants — and possibly compatible third - political party versions — will also in all likelihood be able to take advantage of Apple ’s grand Find My meshwork , which use Apple devices to anonymously settle any nearby lose objects and report their location .
In short , AirTags are exactly what U1 was plan for . From all indications , the launching is vex near and closer — it would seem surprising if it did n’t establish in 2021 … but then again , that ’s what we said about 2020 .
U1’s edge
Apple has explore one or two other features that could take advantage of the proximity sensing capability of the U1 ; for example , it ’s endure by elevator car key feature that allow newer iPhones work as a way of life to open your vehicle , rent your automobile mechanically unlock when you get close enough .
But the U1 could , in hypothesis , help with more mundane number too , such as providing more context of use for which gimmick to go forth notifications to depending on how close you are to it . Or deciding which machine should treat a Siri request . It could be used to help lead you around an indoor infinite , or enhance Apple ’s ambitions in augment realism by helping it more precisely locate items in space — perhaps if the ship’s company determine , for example , that it wants to build up wireless controllers to turn with its AR headset .
In short , there ’s a lot of opening that the U1 chip can unlock . Apple intelligibly conceive in that potential , given that it sunk the resource into design a chip just for radical wideband and then ramp up that chip into many of its most democratic machine . Now all it has to do is convert the masses .
