Expect more ultra-wideband (UWB) products from Apple in 2020 and beyond.

Apple initially introduced a UWB chip with the iPhone 11 launch in September 2019. The company has only announced that UWB will be used in its AirDrop app to determine if another iPhone 11 is nearby. Apple fans expect that the technology could be used for a lot more in terms of tracking and location.

UWB can determine positions of items indoors with an accuracy of up to 10 centimeters. The technology calculates the distance from another device by measuring how long it takes to send and return a signal from one UWB transceiver to another.

The indications are that the iconic iPhone maker will increase its use of UWB technology soon.

9to5Mac reports that Ming Chi Kuo, a noted Apple analyst with TF International Securities, said that the technology will be included in Apple UWB tags, for tracking wallets, backpacks and other personal items, in the first half of 2020.

At the same time, a major silicon supplier for Apple, Qorvo, has acquired Decawave, a Dublin, Ireland-based UWB chipmaker, for a reported $400 million. Decawave is expected to provide UWB chips for devices like smartwatches and other IoT devices. Qorvo currently derives around a third of its $869 million in revenue from Apple.

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— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading