Apple industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple’s upcoming iPhone 15 will boast an upgraded Ultra Wideband (UWB) chip designed to optimize the iPhone’s integration with Apple’s soon-to-be-released Vision Pro headset.
Kuo recently tweeted that upgrading the UWB processor, which Apple currently calls the U1 chip, is part of a plan to “aggressively upgrade hardware specifications to build a more competitive ecosystem for Vision Pro.”
Apple will aggressively upgrade hardware specifications to build a more competitive ecosystem for Vision Pro
1. The ecosystem is one of the key success factors for Vision Pro, including the integration with other Apple hardware products, and related main hardware specifications are Wi-Fi and UWB.
2. iPhone 15 will likely see an specification upgrade of UWB, with the production process moving from 16nm to more advanced 7nm, allowing for improved performance or reduced power consumption for nearby Interactions.
3. iPhone 16 will likely upgrade to Wi-Fi 7, which will be more conducive to Apple’s integration of hardware products running on the same local network and provide a better ecosystem experience.
The U1 chip powers several of Apple’s location-based features like Find My, Precision Finding, and AirDrop. The chip is also used in AirTag trackers, the HomePod mini, the second-generation HomePod, Apple Watch Series 6, and the second-generation AirPods Pro charging case.
Kuo also offered up info on the iPhone 16, which the analyst says will feature support for Wi-Fi 7, “which will be more conducive to Apple’s integration of hardware products running on the same local network and provide a better ecosystem experience.”
Wi-Fi 7 is expected to provide speeds of at least 30 gigabits per second and could even hit 40Gbps, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance.
