Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
When will we see AirTag with eSIM?
- Thread starter Adarna
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Eventually the carriers will wrap their heads around the eSIM thing and IOT. Then it'll be a nominal fee to add an additional device to your monthly data bucket. The market will eventually drive them there.
More likely to get a button on the airtags, for the ability to ping your closest iDevice and whatnot.
The Airtag Pro
The Airtag Pro
Careful on that "never"...
At least two devices readily available, utilizing gps & cellular communication:
Both more expensive than an Airtag of course, and in need of regular charging, but they're out there already.
Who actually said anything about GPS?
But, as you did ask....
aGPS isn't GPS. It's triangulation devices use, utilizing cell towers. Get into a rural area where cell tower density is considerably less - your self-driving car might head into the field only utilizing aGPS.
And, that isn't new for 5G - it's been around for almost 20 years?
Edit: Ah...maybe it's the fact that some of the 5G spectrum in the US will cause interference with GPS?
FCC approves 5G network despite military saying it will harm GPS [Updated]
Pai says power limits and guard band will prevent interference with GPS.
arstechnica.com
Who actually said anything about GPS?
But, as you did ask....
aGPS isn't GPS. It's triangulation devices use, utilizing cell towers. Get into a rural area where cell tower density is considerably less - your self-driving car might head into the field only utilizing aGPS.
And, that isn't new for 5G - it's been around for almost 20 years?
Edit: Ah...maybe it's the fact that some of the 5G spectrum in the US will cause interference with GPS?
FCC approves 5G network despite military saying it will harm GPS [Updated]
Pai says power limits and guard band will prevent interference with GPS.
Ackshully....
aGPS - assisted GPS - was more about providing the ephemeris and general position to the early cell phone gps hardware for a faster initial location fix. It was somewhat different from cell tower triangulation.
See https://medium.com/ivymobility-developers/understanding-agps-assisted-gps-3ae23cc691ab
With the advances in GPS hardware plus the prevalence of Wifi positioning I'm not sure aGPS is much in use any more.
I'm sure AT&T is already gearing up for their $10/month AirTag plan... (just "$2.99" a month, plus $4 admin fee and $3 regulatory fee)
I think some of the new 5g frequencies can use little more than Bluetooth power. If the AirtagPro TM ? only pings every minute or so power consumption will be minimal.
ATT is surely tallying up those sweet, sweet fee projections at this very moment. Bonuses for all execs!!!
Correction...
AirTag 6G as it will come out early 2030s when 6G networks will start to roll out.
Today we have prepaids with 30GB 5G data that expires after 52 weeks for the equivalent of $5.23 every year.
This would be 57.0776256 kilobytes per minute for 30GB/year of 5G data.
Correction...
AirTag 6G as it will come out early 2030s when 6G networks will start to roll out.
Today we have prepaids with 30GB 5G data that expires after 52 weeks for the equivalent of $5.23 every year.
This would be 57.0776256 kilobytes per minute for 30GB/year of 5G data.
Last edited:
Not sure why you included 7 decimal places? (it does show that you didn't use 365 days in your calculation though - guess you did something with the 52 weeks?)
btw - that article on 6G is awful. Terrible amount of assumptions and generalizations. Of course the same companies that have developed cellular tech will be developing future cellular tech. Of course the tech hungry countries will adopt it first.
A future AirTag would almost certainly not be using anything in the Terahertz range. One thing that people seem to forget (or misunderstand) is that these high frequencies cost a considerable amount of energy and have very short ranges (there's a reason that lower frequencies are used in rural areas - they carry much further).
Barring an order of magnitude evolution in battery tech, you're not going to be able to fit that kind of capacity into a CR2032-like form factor.
I googled the actual 1 year to minutes and copy pasted the KB per minute rate. Hence the decimal places.Not sure why you included 7 decimal places? (it does show that you didn't use 365 days in your calculation though - guess you did something with the 52 weeks?)
btw - that article on 6G is awful. Terrible amount of assumptions and generalizations. Of course the same companies that have developed cellular tech will be developing future cellular tech. Of course the tech hungry countries will adopt it first.
A future AirTag would almost certainly not be using anything in the Terahertz range. One thing that people seem to forget (or misunderstand) is that these high frequencies cost a considerable amount of energy and have very short ranges (there's a reason that lower frequencies are used in rural areas - they carry much further).
Barring an order of magnitude evolution in battery tech, you're not going to be able to fit that kind of capacity into a CR2032-like form factor.
As of posting 6G networks do not have a final spec yet so the wiki article is as good a consolidation as ever.
When you click the link again after 100 months then it will be fleshed out to your exacting standards.
By the 2030s 2G & 3G networks have hopefully been decomissioned by more than 80% of all countries allowing their frequencies to be used by 6G & future network standards.
Heh. Did they finally sunset CDMA in the US? I wouldn't hold your breath on all of the antiquated cell gear being displaced in time.
My point on the article was - why bother to publish something full of assumptions? (by that token, why not publish 7G and 8G articles now - they'll be filled with a similar amount of fluff).
Doesnt CDMA expand to 5G? 2G and 3G are being shutdown. By 2030s I can see that happen in places like the US.
2G shutdown: When and where is it happening — Olivia
We’ve made an overview with public information about the timelines of decommissioning 2G networks. Please keep in mind that this is ever changing and we can’t be certain about the correctness of the information.
www.oliviawireless.com
That's what LTE was (Long Term Evolution) - when the technologies finally merged. There are elements of the CDMA protocol in the future revisions of the merged roadmap.Doesnt CDMA expand to 5G? 2G and 3G are being shutdown. By 2030s I can see that happen in places like the US.
2G shutdown: When and where is it happening — Olivia
We’ve made an overview with public information about the timelines of decommissioning 2G networks. Please keep in mind that this is ever changing and we can’t be certain about the correctness of the information.
Yep, you will certainly have inclusion of the lower frequency bands in future protocols - but you have to think of the practicality / utility of where you use it.
You also have to wonder how much R&D $ is Apple going to put into an "accessory" product that goes for about $40.
I am thinking it costs less than $15 in materials? There is a large market for asset tracking. The cost needs to go down and connectivity needs to improve further.
If you're in a country where more than 2 of 3 phones are iPhones then the AirTags' current tech is good enough.
But when you're in a country where less than 1 out of 20 phones are iPhones then you're looking at more active tracking like via 6G.