Samsung appears to be on the verge of launching the Galaxy SmartTag. A new Tile-like device for tracking lost items.
The tracker, presumably called the Galaxy SmartTag, has been leaked over the past month. And, it’s likely to be announced alongside the Galaxy S21 later in January.
The Galaxy SmartTag would use Bluetooth to connect to neighboring devices and broadcast its location. The goal is that the owners can find it later if they lose what it is attached to. It will be powered by a replaceable button cell; according to a regulatory file identified by GSMArena. So you won’t have to throw it away and buy a new one when the battery runs out.
Samsung’s tracker looks a lot like a Tile. The leaks show the Galaxy SmartTag as a small square with rounded corners and a hole on one edge to slip in a keychain or lanyard. Photos of the device filed with the Taiwan Telecommunications Regulatory Authority have been released by 91mobiles. They line up with an illustration of the gadget that was leaked by Samsung’s SmartThings app.
So far, it’s not clear that Samsung is doing anything out of the ordinary. It appears to be a pretty standard tracking system. Samsung launched a tracker in 2018 that connects to mobile phone networks for ongoing monitoring. More recently, in October, Samsung launched an app that helps owners of its gadgets locate their existing devices using Bluetooth; which appears to be groundwork for the next SmartTag.
This seems like bad news for Tile, since it is rumored that Apple also has an item tracking system in the works. That could mean two new major competitors in a year, if these two devices actually hit the market.
