We patiently wait for Apple to abandon its device tracking hardware for nearly two years, but Samsung may win the race as a late participant.
A plethora of leaks in recent months suggests that Samsung will launch something called the Galaxy SmartTag in the near future. More recently and perhaps the most convincing, 91mobiles has published some leaked images of the product that make it look a lot like a Tile Pro, a popular tracking device that you keep on valuable items in case they get lost. Put one of these items in the wrong place and all you have to do is open a mobile app to see where it went.
Rumors about the SmartTag have been circulating since at least November, with SamMobile reporting its existence at that time. It looks like it will be powered by Bluetooth, which is interesting because Samsung’s last attempt on such a product, the 2018 SmartThings Tracker, used LTE to track lost items.
It can be safely assumed that SmartTag will work well with SmartThings Find, an application launched by Samsung last year with the specific goal of finding lost Galaxy devices.
Don’t be surprised if Samsung unveils the SmartTag this month, as we expect some important company products to be revealed on January 14th. The real headline maker is likely to be the Galaxy S21 smartphone line, so it would make sense to launch SmartTags alongside those.
If all of this happens, Samsung will have a small advantage in its competition with Apple. We have heard rumors of a similar Apple brand product allegedly called “AirTags” since 2019, but for some reason, Apple has not yet officially revealed it. If Samsung succeeds in launching the SmartTag, it will give Apple an extra incentive to ensure that AirTags don’t follow the AirPower path.