Article for context:https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/12/23870522/iphone-15-pro-max-thread-smartphones (Ik that I am talking about multiple companies when I refer to android companies but many singular companies make more innovations in the phone space compared to apple)
What the fuck is a thread radio
There's a new protocol for smart home devices called Matter, that let's them work across ecosystems (so for example smart lights set up with Google Home could be controlled through Apple HomeKit via Matter). Thread is part of how Matter devices communicate with each other (instead of e.g. WiFi or Bluetooth). The new iPhones can directly use Thread instead of needing another devices to act as a bridge to "translate" the commands
A fairly niche addition, but definitely not useless. And a big plus for those into smart home stuff
Notably the homepod mini had thread radios and could act as a thread router as one of the earliest devices out there, might be that apple is going to push harder for this and has plans for it's own thread enabled Smart Home products.