The disassembly of the Apple AirTag allows to have some details

04/01/2023 By gifsauce 682 Views

iFixit offers its teardown of Apple's AirTag. The object tracker is compared to Tile's Mate, Samsung's SmartTag... and a US quarter dollar coin. The latter is mainly there to make the comparison with the size.

Tile, SmartTag, AirTag and room

Apple's AirTag Teardown

In its teardown, iFixit notes that the AirTag is the tag that best occupies the space inside. X-rays show that the internal components take up almost all the space. This is not quite the case with Mate and SmartTag. It is however worth noting that the products of Tile and Samsung have a hole so that they can be hooked to something, which is not the case with the beacon from Apple.

Speaking of that hole, it's technically possible to have one on the AirTag. Indeed, iFixit explains that there are three small spaces on the AirTag where you can make a hole yourself. However, you have to be very careful because improper handling makes the accessory unusable. And of course, the guarantee jumps with such manipulation.

Dismantling the Apple AirTag allows to have some details

As for the battery, all three products offer a fairly simple replacement system. The AirTag and SmartTag have a CR2032 battery. This is the CR1632 model for the Mate. The AirTag has a mechanism for rotating its backplate for replacement, but there's no easy way to lift the backplate if you have oily or slippery hands. "Imagine opening a stubborn pickle jar with only two slippery thumbs," says iFixit. In any case, there is no need for any particular tool to make the replacement.

Disassembling the AirTag also reveals a bit more about the speaker. This emits a sound to allow the nearby owner to quickly know the location. But how could the loudspeaker be placed given the small surface of the accessory? Apple decided to use the entire space of its beacon as a speaker, with the underside of the lid acting as a speaker magnet.

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