Starlink latency is somewhere around 50ms on average according to friends, more than adequate for e.g. online multiplayer first-person shooters.

I wouldn't care about 40ms of latency for my phone.

If by "last decade" you're comparing against geostationary, then yes. The satellites are roughly a hundred times closer.

> Or has that improved in the last decade?

Yes. Starlink satelites are at low earth orbit, much much closer than the geosyncronous orbits communication satelites a decade ago had to be at.

Distance is latency because the radio waves can “only” propagate at the speed of light. The shorter the trip the faster the signals can make it.

Latency is big issue for geostationary satellites - the ones at which you can aim a dish at a fixed point in the sky - which have to be very far away from Earth to be geostationary, 35000 km above surface, unlike Starlink satellites which are just 550km above ground.

Starlink gets 40-150ms, more often erring on the faster side. If they can get their peak load under control, I don't think I'd ever pine for hardwired internet again.