At its Galaxy Unpacked 2021 event, Samsung announced its AirTags rival, the Galaxy SmartTags and SmartTags+ alongside the Galaxy S21 series and Galaxy Buds Pro. These Tile-like tracking tags will connect to any device over Bluetooth and are powered by a coin battery that’s good enough to last for months.
Since Bluetooth itself has a very limited range, the Galaxy SmartTag and SmartTag+ will be able to automatically connect to other Samsung Galaxy devices in their vicinity over an encrypted network thereby allowing one to track their tagged item. Samsung has already rolled out the ability for its Galaxy devices to talk to the SmartTag over an encrypted network.
The Galaxy SmartTag+ is similar to the SmartTag but it comes with UWB support. This means the SmartTag+ can talk to the Galaxy S21 series over UWB to offer precise indoor location and use AR to make the experience better. It is unclear if the SmartTag+ will also be able to communicate with the UWB chip found inside the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 series or not.
Users will be able to track the SmartTag or SmartTag+ using the Find feature in Samsung’s SmartThings app. The Galaxy SmartTag is available for $29, with a two-pack available for $49. As for the Galaxy SmartTag+, it will be available for $39. Interestingly, while Samsung has already announced its Tile-like tracking tags, Apple is yet to unveil the AirTags which is likely what first led Samsung to work on the Galaxy SmartTag.
The Galaxy SmartTag and SmartTag+ are already available for pre-order and go on sale later this month.
