Bringing the first UWB-enabled Android device to market

NXP Semiconductors has announced its Secure UWB fine-ranging solution, eSIM as well as NFC and eSE unit are deployed in Samsung’s new Galaxy Note20 Ultra. The company innovations bring a mixture of future capabilities and applications to mobile devices as they become the smart hub of daily digital life.

Launching today’s on-the-go lifestyle with secure mobile solutions, the company secures consortia and ecosystem collaborations to ironclad industry alignment around UWB. The companies are two of the founding members of the FiRa Consortium, which was established in 2019 to promote interoperability in the development and widespread adoption of UWB.

“For the first time in a Galaxy device, Samsung is integrating NXP’s UWB technology into our latest Galaxy Note20 Ultra to make sharing photos, videos and files easier,” said Inkang Song, vice president and head of Technology Strategy Group of IT and Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. “We are excited to introduce future UWB functionality in our Galaxy devices that will help locate items more accurately with AR technology and unlock your home as a digital key that will make life easier for consumers.”

UWB technology provides unprecedented accuracy in both LoS and strong localisation in nLoS scenarios, such as crowded, multipath signal environments with multiple walls, people, and other obstacles. It also uses AoA technology to designate the direction of a signal for extra precision and to locate and distinguish other devices or objects at centimetre level. With that, Samsung’s utilisation of UWB in its latest Galaxy Note20 Ultra delivers users powerful tools to aid in maximising their time and simplify their daily routines.

“NXP offers a comprehensive suite of UWB chipsets that span best-in-class security, automotive, IoT and mobile architectures for real-time, precise, localisation capabilities across market applications; this has never been more important with mobile devices driving the digitisation of identities so people can interact contactless with the world around them,” said Rafael Sotomayor, executive vice president and GM, Connectivity and Security at NXP. “In addition to UWB, eSIM is also a new use case enabled in our mobile wallet that provides connectivity options beyond traditional SIM.”