60 Macworld • March 2021iPHONE
of the U1; for example, it’s supported
by car key feature that lets newer
iPhones work as a way to open your
vehicle, letting your car automatically
unlock when you get close enough.
But the U1 could, in theory, help
with more mundane issues too,
such as providing more context for
which device to issue notifications to
depending on how close you are to
it. Or deciding which device should
handle a Siri request. It could be used
to help lead you around an indoor
space, or enhance Apple’s ambitions
in augmented reality by helping it
more precisely locate items in space- perhaps if the company decided,
for example, that it wants to build
wireless controllers to work with its
AR headset.
In short, there’s a lot of possibility
that the U1 chip can unlock. Apple
clearly believes in that potential,
given that it sunk the resources
into designing a chip just for
ultra-wideband and then built that
chip into many of its most popular
devices. Now all it has to do is
convince the masses.
60 Macworld • March 2021iPHONE
of the U1; for example, it’s supported
by car key feature that lets newer
iPhones work as a way to open your
vehicle, letting your car automatically
unlock when you get close enough.
But the U1 could, in theory, help
with more mundane issues too,
such as providing more context for
which device to issue notifications to
depending on how close you are to
it. Or deciding which device should
handle a Siri request. It could be used
to help lead you around an indoor
space, or enhance Apple’s ambitions
in augmented reality by helping it
more precisely locate items in space- perhaps if the company decided,
for example, that it wants to build
wireless controllers to work with its
AR headset.
In short, there’s a lot of possibility
that the U1 chip can unlock. Apple
clearly believes in that potential,
given that it sunk the resources
intodesigninga chipjustfor
ultra-wideband and then built that
chip into many of its most popular
devices. Now all it has to do is
convince the masses.