When Apple launched AirTag in 2021, the corporate additionally unveiled its personal equipment for the tiny, hole-less tracker. Nonetheless, since then, neither AirTag nor its first-party equipment have obtained any main updates. However it appears that evidently Apple has now quietly discontinued one of many unique AirTag equipment amid rumors of a brand new technology of the merchandise tracker.
The unique AirTag Loop is now not available in shops
As noticed by Macworld, Apple is now not promoting an adjunct often known as the AirTag Loop. The accent has disappeared from the corporate’s on-line retailer and is unavailable in lots of Apple Shops all over the world.
Sources conversant in the matter advised Macworld that shops haven’t obtained new AirTag Loop provides for months, and the product has additionally been faraway from the catalog, suggesting that it has been discontinued for good. Though Apple generally faces provide shortages that influence the supply of some merchandise, the corporate normally makes it clear in its retailer when a product is briefly out of inventory, sources mentioned.
For these unfamiliar, the AirTag Loop lets customers connect the merchandise tracker to things corresponding to backpacks and suitcases. Apple initially supplied each leather-based and silicone variations of the Loop, however in 2023, it discontinued the leather-based model after asserting FineWoven as a alternative for its leather-based equipment. Nonetheless, whereas Apple changed the AirTag Leather-based Key Ring with a FineWoven mannequin, it by no means made a FineWoven Loop, as a substitute sticking with the silicone model as the one choice.
Apple’s FineWoven Key Ring for AirTag stays obtainable each in retail and on-line shops.
At $35, the corporate’s official AirTag equipment price greater than an AirTag, however Apple additionally promotes third-party equipment which might be less expensive. In response to one other supply who spoke to Macworld, many purchasers who purchase AirTags are likely to go for third-party equipment reasonably than Apple’s personal.
You’ll be able to nonetheless discover the unique AirTag Loop in another shops at costs as little as $13, seemingly discounted to filter remaining inventory.
The AirTag Loop is now not bought at Apple Shops.
Foundry
AirTag 2: What to anticipate
Though the probably motive Apple stopped promoting the AirTag Loop is its low recognition amongst prospects, the corporate can also be gearing as much as launch a brand new model of AirTag with refreshed equipment within the close to future.
Primarily based on the most recent rumors, a 2nd-gen AirTag is already within the works and should launch later this yr. The brand new model is predicted to have an identical design to the present one however with an improved Extremely Wideband chip and prolonged vary. The iPhone 15 and later fashions embrace an up to date UWB chip with a variety of as much as 60 meters, in comparison with 15 meters for the chip contained in the 1st-gen AirTag. The expertise allows the Precision Discovering characteristic, which exhibits the gap between you and the merchandise you’re making an attempt to trace.
Different stories counsel that AirTag 2 may even embrace stronger anti-stalking mechanisms, corresponding to higher protections to forestall folks from disabling the tracker’s inner speaker.
