AirTags 2 in teardown: More changes than Apple mentioned
At first glance, little has changed with the new AirTags. But Apple has tinkered with the internals.
Apple's AirTags 2, here with new accessories.
(Image: Apple)
Apple's AirTags 2 are finally here. The second generation of the popular Bluetooth and Ultra-Wideband trackers has been available for pre-order since yesterday or is available in Apple's retail stores (and sporadically in other retail). Hobbyists have already taken the opportunity to take apart the devices, available from 35 euros, to check what changes the manufacturer has actually made.
Because fundamentally little has actually changed: the form factor is unchanged. The AirTags 2 only have a louder speaker (by 50 percent) and improved “Precision Finding” (1.5x range) thanks to the U2 chip, which is already found in iPhones and Apple Watch devices. Bluetooth radio has also been optimized – Apple doesn't reveal exactly how.
Speaker still removable
The teardowns – for example on YouTube and Mastodon – show, among other things, a shrunken circuit board, an enlarged speaker coil, and a magnet more firmly attached to the housing. The latter means that modifications to remove it (to better use the AirTags for theft protection) will become more difficult. Apparently, however, no tamper protection has been integrated that fundamentally prohibits modifications: YouTuber Joseph Taylor removed both the coil and the speaker, and the AirTag 2 worked as usual.
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The sound emitted by the AirTag 2 is slightly higher and, as promised by Apple, louder overall. The battery compartment has been minimally changed in terms of connections, but this probably won't prevent previous accessories. Additional pads were found on the circuit board, which could serve Apple's diagnostics. The built-in microcontroller is an NRF52840. It could, at least according to Mastodon user @stacksmashing, be as susceptible to fault injection attacks as its predecessor. The flash chip appears to be from Winbond (W25Q64).
For the forgetful
It remains unclear how Apple has adjusted the Bluetooth range, which the company claims has improved. Initial tests with the AirTags 2 (in conjunction with an iPhone 17) show that Precision Finding works better than before, even in larger apartments.
So Apple apparently hasn't promised too much here. It's reminiscent of what's already possible with AirPods Pro 3, which are also easily misplaced.
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