Well, tech companies can often make mistakes and Apple is no exception. In a now-deleted video, Apple basically confirmed the existence of its own tracking tags, which would be a direct competitor to Tiles.
The tracking tag, now confirmed to be called ‘AirTag’, first saw leaks as early as October 2019. Now, with that recent video release, it seems that a release is imminent.
In the video, it displays an iPhone’s “Find My iPhone” menu but also revealed the AirTags will be capable of a sort of offline finding feature. That would mean that it can be tracked even without a Wi-Fi or cellular connection.
But how is that possible? That may suggest that it may have ultra-wideband radio technology, accurate to what rumours have speculated. It’ll be similar to what the iPhone 11 models use with their U1 chips for better location data.
That feature alone may put it slightly ahead of Tile, for most of their products rely on a Bluetooth connection up to 46m. Their app will show the last known location of the product, though.
As for design, the AirTags, it’s expected to be like circular discs, versus the usually square design of Tiles’ products (only their sticker product has a circular design).
If rumours are deemed true, it should feature Apple’s U1 cheap. It will work with both iPhones and iPads to offer an augmented reality (AR) interface to find missing items, based on code in previous iOS beta builds.
No word yet on just when AirTags will officially launch, but seeing as there’s a video made about it already, it should arrive soon.
