As is often the case, this is some very interesting technology, but for now, we’ll only see it used in some novelty applications. An increased level of spatial

As is often the case, this is some very interesting technology, but for now, we’ll only see it used in some novelty applications. An increased level of spatial awareness for phones will be huge in the coming decade. However, it will almost certainly be a result of sensor fusion between a Soli-like radar sensor, a FaceID-like ToF sensor, enhanced positioning and pose detection, RGB cameras, microphones, and a lot of ML to assemble a comprehensive picture of environmental context and user intent. Radar is one more piece of the puzzle in building products that can read the same cues we naturally use to communicate with other humans: Imagine, instead of telling a voice assistant “Alexa, turn down the volume,” where you have to use a phonetic trigger, and all the system has to go on is audio, something more natural: You look in the direction of the hardware, say “turn it down a bit,” and make a pinching gesture with your hand. The system can assemble all these pieces (you were looking at it, you spoke in its direction, you gestured) and, with a sufficiently-trained neural network, make a more conclusive determination of your intent.