Apple’s strategic decision to adopt ultra-wideband (UWB) radio technology beginning with the iPhone 11 two years ago hasn’t gone unnoticed with the competition. According to a new supply-chain report, the company’s interest in the technology has created significant demand for UWB applications even though Apple has yet to join the UWB Alliance.
While a handful of smartphone makers have now embraced UWB, including Samsung and China-based Xiaomi, more are expected to do so in 2021 and beyond. Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes has credited rising UWB demand to Apple’s promotion of the tech, writing that Oppo and Vivo are expected to adopt UWB for their flagship handsets.
Other China-based smartphone vendors are expected to follow suit.
Spatial Awareness With UWB
Interestingly, NXP Semiconductors recently presented some pretty interesting UWB use cases. Meanwhile, STMicroelectronics and Qorvo have both managed to obtain key UWB patents via acquisition deals. All three companies are Apple’s suppliers.
A form of short-range, high-bandwidth radio transmission, UWB allows precise distance measuring and indoor positioning between two devices. It works by calculating the time that it takes for a radio wave to pass between two devices. In that regard, UWB is more accurate than either Bluetooth LE or Wi-Fi. Though UWB’s been used in military and medical applications for decades, it wouldn’t reach consumer devices until Apple has adopted it.
Apple’s UWB Devices So Far
The general public wouldn’t hear about UWB until the iPhone 11 launched in September 2019, the first model with UWB. Apple’s implementation of the technology calls for the use of an in-house designed U1 chip. The company has also added UWB features to the Apple Watch Series 6 and the HomePod smart speaker, as well as to the latest iPhone 12 family.
UWB may play an even bigger role in Apple’s rumored AR/VR gadgets and the leaked AirTag item-tracker accessory. MakeUseOf recently reported that people can now enable the hidden Devices tab in the Find My app, which supports UWB accessories. Apple devices use UWB to power spatial awareness which lets iPhones precisely locate other U1‑equipped Apple devices. It’s also used for directional AirDrop so you can point your iPhone in the direction of another iPhone to have it prioritized in the AirDrop list.
Apple also uses UWB for an enhanced version of CarKey that doesn’t require you to hold your iPhone very close to the vehicle’s lock. The original CarKey standard was based on NFC. The enhanced version, dubbed Digital Key Plus, uses UWB technology.
According to Apple’s support document, its implementation of UWB uses the same tricks to randomize data found in other supported Apple devices. Those techniques include MAC address and Wi-Fi frame sequence number randomization, among other things.
Standardizing the UWB Protocol
Both the Galaxy Flip 2 and one of the Galaxy Note 20 editions support UWB. Interestingly, Galaxy SmartTag will not support UWB although Samsung’s promised to release a UWB-enabled variant of the accessory in the second half of the year. On top of that, rival Tile has a UWB accessory in the works for an introduction in mid-2021.
The UWB Alliance was founded in December 2018 to promote UWB ecosystems, including smartphones, whilst ensuring interoperability of UWB technologies between different vendors. The founding members include Hyundai, Kia, Zebra, Decawave, Alteros, Novelda, and Ubisense. Apple hasn’t joined the alliance yet, but may do so in the future.
Neither Apple nor Google have yet implemented rich AWB support in their respective developer APIs. For what it’s worth, the Android Open Source Project recently received its first patches ahead of a more robust UWB support expected in later versions of Android.