iFixit Shares AirTag Teardown Revealing ‘Impressively Compact’ Design Compared to Tile Mate and Galaxy SmartTag

iFixit has actually shared the first of its two-part series in tearing down Apples AirTag product tracker, exposing that Apple had to make impressive design decisions to accomplish its small design, consisting of reassessing the speaker layout.
For comparison, iFixit compared Apples AirTag to the Tile Mate and the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag. Compared to the competition, AirTag is the smallest in size, with the most internal space used to house the battery itself. One significant design distinction is AirTags lack of a built-in keyring hole, which iFixit associates to Apples history of “turning essential functions into premium, add-on accessories.”
An x-ray of the three gadgets does certainly reveal that Apple lost no internal area for its item tracker. On the other hand, the Tile Mate and Galaxy SmartTag seem to be “sprawling” with internal area, and in spite of their bigger footprints, neither tracker includes ultra-wideband innovation like AirTags. It deserves noting that Samsung just recently released an ultra-wideband version of the Galaxy SmartTag; nevertheless, iFixit was unable to acquire one for its contrast.
The Tile Mate, Galaxy SmartTag, and AirTag all function coin cell replaceable batteries. AirTag and the Galaxy SmartTag utilize a. 66Wh CR2032 battery, while the Tile Mate utilizes a smaller sized.39 Wh CR1632 battery. AirTag features a twist and lift mechanism for its backplate in regards to battery replacement, however it does not consist of a simple method to lift the backplate if you occur to have oily or slippery hands.
All 3 trackers open up with finger power– no other tools required! That said, the AirTag is by far the most difficult, particularly if you indulged in a snack earlier and have oily digits.
Replacing the battery is the outermost a typical customer will have the ability to enter into their AirTag without correct tooling. Even because case, iFixit says Apple showed “unexpected restraint in sealing the AirTag,” keeping in mind that completely opening the tracker only requires a vise and some plastic sticks.
AirTag includes an integrated speaker which produces sounds when pinged by a paired iPhone through the Find My app, during set-up and other situations. However, given its little form aspect, Apple needed to think about a new method to fit a speaker into the tracker. With AirTag, Apple chose to use the whole body as the speaker motorist, with the underside of the cover serving as the speakers magnet.
Its circles all the method down as you head inside the AirTag. Did you see the “button” on the underside of the cover? Thats not a clickable button, like the Mate and SmartTag have, but rather the magnet we saw previously in the X-ray. It sits best inside the donut-shaped reasoning board, embedded into a coil of copper to form a speaker. You check out that right– the AirTags body is basically a speaker chauffeur. Power is sent to the voice coil, which drives the magnet installed to the diaphragm– in this case, the plastic cover where the battery lives– which makes the sounds that lead you to your lost travel luggage.
As we noted earlier today, it is possible to drill a hole through an AirTag to offset its lack of an integrated keyring hole. Doing so will certainly void your AirTags guarantee, and while it is possible, it is a danger. As iFixit notes, “drilling in the wrong location can cause serious damage.”
iFixit states that the second part of its teardown will consist of detailed info on the AirTags circuit board and other surprise secrets. For whatever you need to learn about AirTags, make certain to inspect out our guide.

For comparison, iFixit compared Apples AirTag to the Tile Mate and the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag. One notable design difference is AirTags lack of a built-in keyring hole, which iFixit associates to Apples history of “turning necessary functions into premium, add-on accessories.”
AirTag includes a built-in speaker which emits sounds when pinged by a paired iPhone through the Find My app, during set-up and other scenarios. With AirTag, Apple decided to utilize the entire body as the speaker motorist, with the underside of the cover serving as the speakers magnet.
You check out that right– the AirTags body is essentially a speaker motorist.