Those who were already hoping for the second generation of one of the best key finders, Apple's AirTag, will likely have to wait a little longer. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, mass production of the AirTag 2 has been pushed back to 2025.

In August, Kuo said that AirTag 2 production could begin in the fourth quarter of 2024. This would mean that the new tracker would arrive in late 2024 or early 2025. Kuo also claimed that Apple may be working on a new ecosystem of spatial computing devices and will use the Vision Pro headset as a central hub for other related devices (including the AirTag 2).

It is not clear what the cause of this latest delay is, and Kuo did not give any specific details. Then again, if the Vision Pro headset is the "core" of Apple's new spatial computing ecosystem, it makes one wonder if the cause could be related to Vision Pro production.

Then again, the delay may not be related to the headset itself, but to other factors. For example, Apple is prioritizing production capacity for more important devices, or there are hurdles in the development of AirTags 2 itself.

No details are known about the second generation Apple tracker, other than that it may appear within the next couple of years. There is no information about possible design changes or additional features.

If Kuo is correct about Vision Pro acting as a hub for spatial computing, we may see integration with headsets and AirTags augmented reality location capabilities (with UWB chips). I would not be surprised if Vision Pro could be used to locate lost AirTags with AR providing a much better field of view than a smartphone screen.

Inside the iPhone 15 is also the new U2, a second-generation ultra-wideband chip. According to Apple, this new chip greatly enhances the "Find My" feature, with a new "Precision Finding" mode that allows users to locate friends even in crowded places, as well as improved range. The release of the U2 (or U3) AirTag is the next logical step, as these features require a U2-enabled device like the iPhone 15 or Apple Watch 9.

But we will have to wait and see what Apple actually does with AirTag in the future. And given the increasing reports of delays, it seems we don't have much choice.