Overview
With announcing the new iPhone 11, Apple also launched the U1 chip. Apple didn’t mention anything about U1 chip in the keynote. What will the Chip do? Well, Chip U1 will provide new capabilities like the accurate version of airdrop in the new iPhone model with iOS 13.
What is the U1 chip?
The U1 chip uses Ultra-Wideband(UWB) technology that allows the new iPhone to locate and communicate with other U1 equipped devices. “U” in U1 means “ultra-wideband”. Ultra-wideband is low energy, short-range radio technology used for wireless transmission.
What could iPhone 11’s U1 chip do?
Apple is the first company to use Ultra-Wideband(UWB) technology in smartphones. The U1 chip mainly used in Airdrop as Apple said “the latest directional version of Airdrop”. That shows another U1 equipped device’s direction and distance using radio waves. Apple is also merging Find My Friend and Find My iPhone into a single app “Find My” in iOS 13.
Difference between Bluetooth and U1(UWB) chip
Bluetooth also does the same thing as UWB in the existing Tile tracker. This tracker works by measuring signal strength. Bluetooth is inexplicit and insecure as compared to UWB. UWB uses time-of-flight calculation for measure distance. UWB can also give the direction to another device, for example, the device is 2 feet away to the left. In the future, the new trackers will be using this latest U1 chip.
Devices with U1 chip
iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro max are all new devices that have U1(Ultra Wideband) chip.
Conclusion
U1 chip may open many possibilities in functionality like AR, Home Automation, Location-based apps. That’s just awesome!!. It makes the app more powerful & reliable by utilizing the U1 chip.