UWB chip in iPhone 11

Apple has started including Ultra Wideband chips in iPhone 11. There were zero iOS features at that time, except, AirDrop interface improvements. Last year Apple shipped a major improvement to AirDrop which relies on UWB. Today I watched Star Wars day-inspired YouTube ad which demonstrates how people can find each other using iPhone 15. The marketing is focused on the iPhone 15. But thanks to long-term planning and software execution it is likely to work on all your friend’s devices. Time will tell is this feature going to get popular, still, a great example of how hardware, software and marketing can work together to deliver innovative features on a massive scale.

Update

17 May 2024

I tested Find My while visiting Battersea Power station with my family and I didn’t see the option in the Find My app. I realised this is an iPhone 15 or newer exclusive feature. Possibly because there have been multiple generations of the Ultra Wideband chip.