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Early teardown video of Apple AirTags surfaces online

Apple's AirTags are officially arriving on customer doorsteps Friday, and one Japanese teardown company has already taken one apart to reveal its internal design.

Japanese repair channel Haruki on Friday published a teardown of Apple's AirTag, giving us a first look at the internal components and design of the tracking accessory.

The first shows how easy it is to remove the back metal cover of an AirTag to replace its battery. But Haruki went a step further and disassembled the battery plate on the device, revealing components like the U1 chip.

Although the video's narration is in Japanese, the clip does give a look at Apple's internal design. The chip portions of AirTag, for example, are contained in a compact donut-shaped board.

In the video's description, the teardown engineer notes that AirTag's voice coil motor, located in the device's central magnetic field, vibrates because of changes in the current. The housing on the coil side of the device acts as a diaphragm.

AirTags became available for preorder on April 23 with an official ship date of April 30. As orders begin arriving in the U.S., it's only a matter of time before other teardown sites, like iFixit, get their hands on the Apple tracking accessory.

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9 Comments

SSD1400 4 Years · 10 comments

Hmmmm ... Disable "speaker" so it can be used as a covert personal tracking device? (Just asking for a friend)

Xed 4 Years · 2896 comments

The first shows how easy it is to remove the back metal cover of an AirTag to replace its battery.

He snapped his finger and jumped to after he had separated it. Not exactly insight into how to remove the back panel to access the battery.

Xed 4 Years · 2896 comments

SSD1400 said:
Hmmmm ... Disable "speaker" so it can be used as a covert personal tracking device? (Just asking for a friend)

I believe it also notifies devices of the people that are likely stalking targets.

SSD1400 4 Years · 10 comments

Xed said:
SSD1400 said:
Hmmmm ... Disable "speaker" so it can be used as a covert personal tracking device? (Just asking for a friend)
I believe it also notifies devices of the people that are likely stalking targets.

Yes, but it doesn't tell them WHERE the AirTag is located.

mknelson 9 Years · 1148 comments

I half suspect some clever entrepreneur will make a replacement battery cover with a key loop attached.

PATENT PENDING  :D