Apple has introduced an updated AirTag in China, touting a step change in location accuracy, wireless range and audible feedback. Priced from 249 yuan for a single unit and 849 yuan for a four-pack, the device keeps the same external design while adopting internal changes meant to improve how easily items can be found.
The new AirTag uses Apple’s second‑generation ultra‑wideband (UWB) chip for “Precision Finding,” which the company says extends directional locating by up to 50 percent versus the previous model. An upgraded Bluetooth radio also stretches the distance at which items can be detected, and the speaker is 50 percent louder — audibility that Apple claims can be heard from up to twice as far as before.
Sustainability and materials were prominent in Apple’s messaging: the case is made from 85 percent recycled plastic, magnets use fully recycled rare‑earth elements, and the printed circuit boards use 100 percent recycled gold plating. The new AirTag remains compatible with existing accessories and Apple is offering a braided key ring in five colours for purchase.
Apple has extended Precision Finding support to the wrist: owners of Apple Watch Series 9 or Ultra 2 (and later models) can now use their watch to guide searches. The device remains tightly integrated with Apple’s Find My network, which can leverage hundreds of millions of Apple devices to report item locations back to owners while preserving end‑to‑end encryption.
A notable new convenience is a secure, temporary location‑sharing feature for lost items: owners can safely share an item’s position with trusted third parties, such as airlines, to aid in recovering misplaced luggage. Apple says it already works directly with more than 50 carriers to accept these encrypted location links privately.
Privacy and anti‑stalking protections remain a key part of the pitch. Apple reiterates that AirTags do not store location data on the device, use rotating Bluetooth identifiers, and include cross‑platform alerts intended to reduce misuse for tracking people or pets — a set of features the company has previously defended and refined amid regulatory and public scrutiny.
For international readers, this refresh is less about a redesign than about deepening the AirTag’s role inside Apple’s ecosystem and addressing the two persistent frictions in the smart‑tag market: false negatives when searching at distance, and public anxiety about misuse. Incremental hardware gains here — better UWB, stronger Bluetooth and a louder speaker — aim to convert Apple’s ecosystem reach into a more reliable everyday utility for users who already own iPhones, Watches and Macs.
On price, Apple’s China positioning keeps the AirTag in the same mainstream accessory band as competitors like Tile and Samsung’s SmartTag, but its advantage remains the ubiquity of the Find My network. For airlines, luggage handlers and other third parties, a secure means to receive temporary location links could reshape some lost‑and‑found workflows without exposing passenger tracking data.
In short, this is a classic Apple move: iterate beneath an unchanged exterior to elevate reliability, sustainability claims and ecosystem lock‑in, while reassuring regulators and users that privacy and anti‑abuse measures are intact.