AirTag 2 not expected until 2025 as Apple sits on backlog of first-gen inventory

9to5mac.com AirTag 2 not expected until 2025 as Apple sits on backlog of first-gen inventory - 9to5Mac

If you’ve been hoping for a second-generation AirTag, you’ll have to keep waiting. According to a new report from Bloomberg,...

AirTag 2 not expected until 2025 as Apple sits on backlog of first-gen inventory::If you’ve been hoping for a second-generation AirTag, you’ll have to keep waiting. According to a new report from Bloomberg,...

72 comments

“If you’ve been hoping for a second-generation AirTag”

People are clamoring for the second generation of a Bluetooth luggage tracker?
- Remember this is Apple we're talking about. Gen 2 will introduce additional form factors and fanboys will call it "game changing", "amazing", and god knows what else.
  
  Air tag pro, in our newly invented color "basically black"
  
  "it's our most AirTag ever"
  
  New form factor you say?
  
  Credit card sized trackers are handy for wallets.
  
  Next version will make the current generation cease working, even though there's nothing wrong with the hardware
- Next gen will be a square with rounded edges. Oh and the pro version will come in dark gray! But personally I prefer the round ones so I‘ll wait for the 3rd generation.
  
  You don’t want the AirTag2 Pro? It’s titanium.
- For a lot of Apple users it's about flaunting that you have the latest toy. A multi year old device is not a good status symbol.
OK, well… What would people want in a second generation AirTag anyway that couldn’t be addressed with software updates? Who, other than profit-hungry shareholders, can even see a need for a second generation AirTag? The original works just fine.
- Smaller. Thinner.
  
  Faster. Stronger.
- Only thing I could see is making them somewhat harder to tamper with and sealed with a rechargeable battery.
  
  They fit on the Apple Watch charger exactly. A lot of people assumed they were originally supposed to be rechargeable.
  
  I don’t know how that could possibly been seen as an “upgrade”.
  
  EU objects. The replaceable battery regulation kicks in 2025 and I believe it will apply to devices like AirTag.
- I kinda hope the next gen ones have a stronger nearby find feature. I love the feature but I still have to be within about 5 ft of it and practically have line of sight i imagine that cant be resolved with simple software updates
- Those Apple fans see the need for a gen 2.
  
  Show me those Apple fans. Show me anyone (aside from shareholders) who want a new generation. Really. Even those guys are pretty happy with the current generation.
Tile works on both platforms
- Wile true, AirTag has significantly more coverage because all iPhones, regardless of AirTag ownership, transmit AirTag data. Tile, on the other hand, only works when people have the tile app installed and (ifaik) running in the background.
  
  Edit: tile, not time
  
  Apple opened up the find my network to third party trackers but I don’t think tile has decided to join it yet. Looks like this brand supports it though: https://chipolo.net/en-us/products/chipolo-card-spot
  
  running in the background.
  
  Even then if you don't use it enough android will remove its permissions unless you override in the android settings.
- Tiles are fine for stuff around the house, but if you leave something out in the wild, that’s where they shit the bed. Tile’s tracking network is dependent upon people willingly installing the Tile app. Apple’s FindMy network was deployed via an OS release that most iPhones auto updated to.
  
  Google is about to follow Apple’s lead and bake something into Android. Once that happens, Tile is up shit creek. They will have the worst tracking network on both iOS and Android.
  
  Yea and I’ll tell you that Tile is far from working because I have never heard of Tile.
  
  And I own a few AirTags myself
- tbh i think Samsung's one is better just because of much larger network of devices
  
  Yeah. I still have a preorder on a few android trackers. But picked up a samsung tracker for a trip where I would actually need to check my luggage and have it moved from hotel to hotel.
  
  in the US it seemed like near constant coverage. Had fun sitting in a lounge watching it pin every minute or so as it was moved to get loaded onto my plane or to luggage claim. And even in Japan (where Samsung has a much smaller market share because... beef with Korea), it was still maybe every half hour or so that it would ping while the luggage delivery service had it. Was especially funny to realize I was on the exact same shinkansen at one point and acknowledging I should get a drink before walking to my hotel.
  
  Tried a Tile a few years back (bought two right before the company got sold to the company that monetizes user data...) and coverage was atrocious on my dry run where I just uninstalled the app on my phone and kept the tracker in my backpack for a trip. I think I got one ping in something like five days.
I'm looking forward to the promised Android alternative. It should be coming any day now...
- They've only been on preorder for half a year...
  
  Has Apple addressed the security issues that Google was holding out for before they released their tracking network?
The current version has a replaceable battery, so I don’t see any reason to upgrade to some other device.
Maybe if they where cheaper people would be buying them in droves
- Last year they were up to $1B sales.
  
  They’re around $25 and priced pretty similarly to Tile an Chipolo. And unlike Tile, they’re actually good at precision tracking outside of your home.
  
  Of all the stuff Apple sells, these things actually seem priced well. They’re like $5 more than the competition, but they have a much broader network.
  
  Samsung ones have a pretty huge network too, especially in the eu
- My bike cost 1000€, the cost of an AirTag is a rounding error when keeping it safe.
  
  Not everyone owns a 1k bike.
And that's why apple sucks

You've viewed 72 comments.