Samsung Galaxy Smart Tag Might Be An Upcoming Tile, Apple AirTag Rival
People lose things, that's pretty much a fact of life. It doesn't exactly have to be as painful as in the old days when technology wasn't around to assist us. While technology still can't give us foolproof memory, things like object trackers can at least help in recovering those lost or forgotten property. Tile popularized the idea of such Bluetooth-enabled item trackers and it will soon be getting some big rivals as Apple and Samsung seem to be preparing to launch their own take.
Apple's trackers, currently believed to be called "AirTags", has long been rumored to be in the works but didn't seem to make it to this year's schedule. It hasn't been scrapped, at least based on clues found in an upcoming iOS update, but may have just been pushed to sometime in 2021. That may have been a mistake as Samsung may come out with its own version a lot sooner.
Indonesia's telecommunications certification office yielded a filing for a certain "Galaxy Smart Tag" from Samsung. Given the company has already abandoned its programmable NFC TecTile tags, this could only be referring to one other likely "tag" product, an item tracker ala Tile.
Samsung Galaxy Smart Tag receives the Indonesian Telecom certification.#Samsung pic.twitter.com/TCk4EYc5ql
— Mukul Sharma (@stufflistings) November 30, 2020
Of course, such trackers aren't exactly uncommon these days and some might wonder if these Galaxy Smart Tags can be more than just Apple AirTag rivals. Samsung may have actually been preparing the stage for this product with its recent SmartThings Find "crowdsourcing" feature as well as announcements around its investments in UWB or Ultra-Wideband technology.
Given how Samsung Galaxy phones far outnumber their iPhone counterparts, the Galaxy Smart Tags could have more mass appeal. That said, Apple will most likely promote how much its services protect user privacy compared to third-party companies like Tile or even and especially someone like Samsung.