In the quiet arithmetic of lost keys and misplaced bags, two of the world's most powerful technology companies are preparing to compete for the same small but intimate corner of daily life. Samsung, according to regulatory filings surfaced in Indonesia, is developing the Galaxy Smart Tag — a device designed to locate belongings with precision, arriving just as Apple readies its long-anticipated AirTags for a rumored March 2021 debut. The moment reflects something larger than product rivalry: it is a contest over which ecosystem earns the right to know where your things are, and by extension, t
Samsung Developing 'Galaxy Smart Tag' to Rival Apple's AirTags
Item tracking now appears poised to become another arena where the two giants will square off
Mark
So Samsung saw Apple working on AirTags and decided to build their own tracker?
Mimi
Not quite that simple. Samsung already had SmartThings Find, a location feature for Galaxy devices. They're extending that into a standalone tag—which happens to compete with what Apple is doing, but it's built on technology Samsung was already developing.
Luke
Right, but we should be clear: the Galaxy Smart Tag hasn't been announced. We know it exists because it showed up in telecom filings. That's real evidence, but it's not a finished product yet.
Mark
What makes ultra-wideband better than what Samsung tried before?
Mimi
The 2018 tracker used LTE and GPS, which work but are less precise. Ultra-wideband gives you much tighter location data—useful when you're searching a room, not just a city block.
Luke
Both companies are betting on it, which suggests they both think it's the right direction. But we don't yet know how well either system will actually work in real conditions.
Mark
Is this just about trackers, or is Samsung trying to match Apple across the board?
Mimi
It's part of a pattern. Apple Card, Samsung Pay Card. Apple pushing ultra-wideband into its ecosystem, Samsung following. It's competitive mirroring.
Luke
Though we should note the camera situation is different—that's Samsung allegedly withholding technology, not building an equivalent. The dynamics aren't identical across all these categories.
Il Polso
- Samsung's Galaxy Smart Tag has surfaced in Indonesian telecom certification documents, signaling the product is close enough to reality to require regulatory approval.
- Apple's AirTags have been anticipated for so long — through patent leaks, iOS code discoveries, and repeated false starts — that Samsung risks entering a market where its rival has already shaped consumer expectations.
- Both companies are converging on ultra-wideband technology as the precision engine for their trackers, turning a once-niche radio standard into a new front in the ecosystem wars.
- Samsung carries the weight of a failed predecessor — its 2018 LTE-GPS SmartThings tracker was quietly discontinued — making this second attempt both a correction and a competitive necessity.
- The tracking category joins payments, camera hardware, and mobile software as yet another domain where Samsung and Apple are mirroring each other's moves, each racing to make their own ecosystem indispensable.
In the quiet arithmetic of lost keys and misplaced bags, two of the world's most powerful technology companies are preparing to compete for the same small but intimate corner of daily life. Samsung, according to regulatory filings surfaced in Indonesia, is developing the Galaxy Smart Tag — a device designed to locate belongings with precision, arriving just as Apple readies its long-anticipated AirTags for a rumored March 2021 debut. The moment reflects something larger than product rivalry: it is a contest over which ecosystem earns the right to know where your things are, and by extension, to deepen its hold on the texture of your everyday world.
Samsung is developing an item tracker called the Galaxy Smart Tag — model EI-T5300 — discovered through Indonesian telecom certification filings by SamMobile. The device is designed to help users locate lost belongings, positioning Samsung directly against Apple's long-rumored AirTags, which are expected to launch in March 2021.
The timing connects to Samsung's broader software ambitions. When the Galaxy Note 20 launched in August, Samsung introduced SmartThings Find, a precision location feature for compatible Galaxy devices. The Galaxy Smart Tag appears to be the natural hardware extension of that platform — a standalone tag that brings the same capability to everyday objects like keys or luggage.
Ultra-wideband technology is expected to power both companies' trackers. Apple's U1 chip, already embedded in recent iPhones, is rumored to anchor AirTags and become a cornerstone of Apple's wider ecosystem strategy. Samsung's filing points toward a similar technical approach, offering more granular location data than older Bluetooth-based methods.
This is Samsung's second attempt at the category. A SmartThings-branded LTE-GPS tracker launched in 2018 has since been discontinued, leaving a gap in Samsung's lineup precisely as Apple prepares to enter the space. The Galaxy Smart Tag would close that gap and give Samsung a direct answer to whatever Apple announces.
The rivalry between the two companies has been expanding steadily — from mobile payments to camera innovation to, now, item tracking. Each new category becomes another arena where both giants offer competing solutions to the same human problem, and where the deeper prize is not the product itself, but the ecosystem loyalty it quietly reinforces.
Samsung is building an item tracker. The company, according to filings uncovered by tech news site SamMobile, is developing a device called the Galaxy Smart Tag—model number EI-T5300—that would let users locate their belongings the way Apple's long-rumored AirTags are designed to do. The filing appeared in Indonesian telecom certification documents, suggesting the product is moving toward a real launch.
The timing is notable. In August, when Samsung unveiled its Galaxy Note 20 smartphone, the company demonstrated SmartThings Find, a software feature that locates compatible Galaxy devices with improved precision. Now Samsung appears ready to extend that capability into a standalone tracking tag, leveraging the same underlying technology. The move mirrors Apple's own trajectory: the company has been preparing to release AirTags for months, with evidence scattered across patent filings, design leaks, and iOS code. After multiple false starts, Apple is now expected to announce the product sometime in March 2021.
Both companies are apparently betting on ultra-wideband technology as the foundation for their tracking systems. Apple's rumored AirTags would use the U1 ultra-wideband chip already present in recent iPhones—a component Apple has signaled it wants to make central to its entire ecosystem. Samsung's Galaxy Smart Tag is expected to follow a similar path, according to speculation around the filing. The technology offers more precise location data than older methods, which matters when you're trying to find your keys in a crowded room or track a lost bag.
This is not Samsung's first attempt at the category. In 2018, the company released an LTE-enabled item tracker with GPS capabilities under the SmartThings brand. That product has since been discontinued, leaving Samsung without a current offering in a space Apple is about to enter. The new Galaxy Smart Tag would give Samsung a way to compete directly, and to do so using technology that mirrors Apple's own approach.
The competitive dynamic between the two companies has been intensifying across multiple fronts. When Apple launched the Apple Card, a consumer lending product, Samsung responded months later with the Samsung Pay Card. More recently, Samsung has been accused of withholding patented periscope camera technology from Apple—a move designed to protect Samsung's own smartphone advantage. Item tracking now appears poised to become another arena where the two giants will square off, each offering their own version of a product that solves the same everyday problem: finding things you've lost.
Citazioni salienti
Samsung is using SmartThings Find software, demonstrated in August alongside the Galaxy Note 20, as the foundation for the Galaxy Smart Tag's location tracking capability— SamMobile reporting
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