Apple has high hopes for its U1-based Apple Tag systems

Can she see it?

Apple’s March event may or may not see the introduction of the company’s take on a location tracking device for keys and other objects, potentially called ‘Apple Tag’.

Has anyone seen the analyst?

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s latest note from the Apple Confidential in-tray once again tells us the devices will use the U1 chip introduced with iPhone 11. This is broadly in line with what we’ve expected since the iPhone 11 was announced in 2019.

What’s new is insight into the scale of Apple’s expectations for the new product family. The analyst tells us:

• Apple expects shipments to reach tens of millions by this year.
• The location tracker uses U1.
• Use of the U1 chip means you can gain precise location data.
• While AR implementation means you can receive help to find the gadget on the map.
• Made by Universal Asahi Electronics.
• Reading between the lines, production begins in Q2.

The analyst isn’t sure when the product will be revealed, telling clients the launch might take place at WWDC or later this year during the iPhone launch.

Apple Maps showing location of a lost Mac on an iPhone

In previous news

There are hundreds of tracking devices available today, but Apple may want to use the power of its platform and tools such as its Find My service to make something better.

The idea being that so long as your tag is in range of someone using an Apple device, it will be found and can be precisely located on the map, so long as you use a registered device logged into the correct Apple ID.

(So, use long alphanumeric passcodes, people).

You can read a little more about how these things may work here.

Photo by Nine Köpfer on Unsplash

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