- AirTag type tags are selling very well
- Double-digit growth, however, is likely to fade very soon
- More affordable alternatives exist, outside of Apple
Apple does not communicate sales results by model, but only by product category. A new study by Circana, however, allows us to learn a little more about a new flagship object from the apple firm: theAirTag. According to the statistics collected here, sales of connected beacons of this type have thus increased by 63% during the period which extends from January to February, a record. In the first month of the year alone, the number reached more than 94%, according to the same source. And it’s a safe bet that the Cupertino device is the best-selling of all brands.
In reality, there is nothing surprising in these scores since small connected objects are in fact very recent at Apple. Their release date only dates back to 2021, so meeting a double-digit increase is not surprising: this is regularly the case for new products. What’s more, the coronavirus pandemic had seriously hampered the travel sector, which seems to concentrate the majority of purchases. Users indeed invest in AirTags to find their lost suitcase at the airport, for many of them.
The end of baggage traffic at the airport?
And for good reason: the AirTag, limited to its main functionality, consists of a device integrating a Bluetooth chip and whose position can be identified in real time via the app and the eponymous network Locate. A platform automatically accessible on all iPhones, all iPads and all Macs currently available in the Apple Store, thanks to a native installation.
Thanks to l’AirTag, passengers who hide one in their luggage are therefore easily able to find them on a map. By indicating the coordinates in question to the airport authorities, it is then easy to apprehend potential thieves. But is this the end of associated traffic? Not really.
Indeed, the AirTag is certainly geolocated thanks to a Bluetooth chip, but also and above all uniquely in this way. Understand that no GPS sensor is installed under the hood, so all you have to do is hide your loot at a sufficient distance from any smart device so that its owner can no longer get their hands on it. A trick that the criminals concerned probably already know, given the multiple front pages of generalist media reporting cases of files similar solved by the police.
Awards and competition
Today, affording an AirTag costs thirty-nine euros each. A tidy sum therefore, which moreover is now in competition with many third-party manufacturers, sometimes with the right to also connect to the Locate network.
Among the alternatives, most often less expensive, we find in particular the beacons of Tile, this manufacturer having also started to market its products well before Apple. And in France, the local Wistiki solution is otherwise compatible with devices running not only under iOS but also under Android.
