Jon Prosser of Front Page Tech on YouTube shared a video leaked to him by an Apple Engineer showing what appears to be the pairing animation for the AirTags.
AirTags are Apple’s upcoming bottle cap-sized trackers that can be attached to items (such as keys, bags, etc) and can be tracked using the ‘Find My’ app on iPhone and iPad.
The design shown in the leaked video (above) is very similar to that of what Jon Prosser and ConceptCreator leaked in September. The design has a white plastic cover with a stainless steel base and the Apple logo engraved onto the back. Similar to the Apple Watch, the main technical specifications of the AirTags are engraved into the stainless steel back in a concentric circle.
The text on the back does confirm that the AirTags will feature an Ultra Wideband chip. This is so that devices with the U1 Ultra Wideband Chip (iPhone 11/11 Pro and later) will be able to find the AirTags more accurately and faster compared to devices without the U1 chip.
Additionally, the text on the base also says that the AirTags use Bluetooth LE (low energy) chips. However, Jon Prosser has said on Twitter that he believes that Bluetooth LE has since been removed since this video was taken.
As for the productions status of AirTags, Prosser says that the production is completed and ready to go. However, he says that the main reason for the delay in the announcement of AirTags is due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Prosser, AirTags will calculate their current location by securely pinging off nearby iPhones in the area. Because no one is leaving their houses due to the pandemic and various lockdowns throughout the world, it’s unlikely that anyone is going to lose anything outside of their houses. Therefore, there is no market for AirTags right now.
Finally, Prosser says that Apple are currently planning to release AirTags this Spring.
You can see the full video on Front Page Tech’s YouTube channel:
