AirTags, Apple's ultra-wideband equipped location tags, will be waterproof and support magnetic charging just like Apple Watch.

This news comes from Japanese website Mac Otakara, however, it contradicts a previous report which said that AirTags will support swappable batteries. This was confirmed through file names found in iOS 13.2 although plans could have changed since then. Perhaps the swappable batteries will be rechargeable. It is also unusual to see waterproof devices with swappable batteries nowadays.

AirTags were expected to launch last year because iPhone 11 had launched with ultra-wideband support. Apart from the ability to point to another iPhone 11 to share files, ultra-wideband has not been very useful on Apple's new smartphones. Ultra-wideband is supposed to allow precise location tracking, within the range of a few centimeters. It is now expected that Apple will announce AirTags before the end of this year.

AirTags will not only support Tile-like object tracking, but they will also play an important role in augmented reality experiences by offering precise location data. This could also be a useful feature to support Apple's rumored augmented reality glasses.

Ming-Chi Kuo recently reported that Apple will ramp up AirTags production between second to third quarter of 2020. Mac Otakara also claims that AirTags will launch before the end of the year. It is possible that Apple is now planning to launch them with iPhone 12 in September.

Here is everything else we know about AirTags so far:

They will pair with iPhone just like AirPodsThey will work with the Find My appon iPhone. Whether they will show up in Find My app on iPad is unknown.AirTags might support 802.11ay along with iPhone 12

What we don't know about AirTags so far is whether they will work with Android smartphones that might ship with ultra-wideband in the future. Ultra-wideband is an open standard and can be used by other device manufacturers too.

via MacRumors