The iPhone 15 series will reportedly include a new ultrawide-band chip that will make locating the handsets with the Find My application more accurate.
Dubbed U2, the chip will supposedly make its way to many other Apple products over time.
U2 chip will determine if iPhone 15 is ‘with or without you’
iPhone 11 was the first with ultra-wideband support thanks to the U1 chip. UWB lets one iPhone locate other when the two devices are nearby. It’s also used by Apple AirTag item trackers.
This is the tech that’s allows the Find My app to report exactly how many feet a way a lost item is, and show an arrow that points directly to it.
Four years later, it’s supposedly time for the U2 chip to replace the original one.
“The new component is expected to improve location capabilities, making it so people and devices can be tracked more accurately in the Find My app,” reports Bloomberg.
With the current U1 chip, tracking a device is fairly short range — covering about half a small house. Perhaps the U2 will increase the distance two devices can contact each other. And the Find My app isn’t accurate at distances of less than a couple of feet either.
Bloomberg also said Friday, “Apple plans to add this chip to the next versions of all of its major products.” That suggests that an AirTag 2 is in development. And the upcoming Vision Pro headset will also likely have the latest location tech.
This isn’t the first we’ve heard of an improved UWB chip in the iPhone 15 series. Word initially leaked out in June.
More about the iPhone 15 series
The wait to find out more about the U2 processor shouldn’t be long, as Apple is almost certainly set to unveil the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro at the Wonderlust event on September 12.
Another change expected in the upcoming handsets is the end of the Lightning port, which Apple will replace with USB-C to comply with European Union mandates. Plus, Apple apparently plans to bring the Dynamic Island to regular iPhones. (The innovative screen cutout currently only comes on Pro models.)
For more details, read our roundup of leaked specs for the entire iPhone 15 series.
