This iPhone 15 upgrade is all about the Vision Pro headset

The iPhone 15 lineup of phones will be announced later this year, assuming the rumors and Apple's previous release schedule are to be trusted. Now, a new report suggests that there is one specific upgrade the new phones will benefit from that's designed specifically to help build an ecosystem for the Vision Pro headset.

That upgrade will be a new ultra wideband (UWB) chip, according to supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The upgraded chip could allow for a better connection between the iPhone 15 and the Vision Pro headset, making for improved performance and a better user experience.

Kup says that the iPhone 15 will likely get an upgraded UWB chip that will see the production process move from one that was based on a 16nm format to a new more advanced 7nm one. That would allow for improved performance but also reduced power consumption when working with other, nearby devices. Those devices could include other iPhones, HomePods, Apple Watches, and of course, the Vision Pro headset.

The Vision Pro headset isn't expected to go on sale until early 2024, while the iPhone 15 series of devices is most likely to debut in or around the first couple of weeks of September 2023. Kuo goes on to say that Apple is set to aggressively upgrade various hardware specifications in an attempt to ensure that the Vision Pro has an ecosystem that it can draw on. That may include running iPhone and iPad-like apps on the headset, while Apple already showed how users will be able to look at their Mac and have its display appear in 3D space via the headset.