A 10-Year Battery for AirTag

I know the concept here is set it and forget it, but still: wouldn't it make more sense to have a smaller (but still probably larger than the current setup) rechargeable battery? I admit I haven't done any research on this, but the Magic Mouse/Keyboard seem to prove the concept of a rechargeable battery lasting months at least, and the Apple Watch proves the idea of wireless charging in a compact form factor, so it seems likely you could produce something that 1. Still roughly fits the AirTag physical profile (i.e. could be used as a dog tag, which this certainly could not) and lasts for months at least and is easily rechargeable. And again, I get that I'm making it require more maintenance rather than (effectively) zero maintenance with this product, but the wireless recharging makes that maintenance much less of a burden than sourcing and swapping a watch battery.

Months would be painful. I have six airtags, so at two years life I’m replacing a battery every 4 months. If the lifespan was 3 months, I would be recharging one every two weeks. That means pulling them out of (relatively) hidden spots on a car and scooter, a laptop bag that I don’t even use most months, etc. For me, it would mean most of them were dead most of the time.

I imagine that keeping the cost down might have been important when designing this. You don't need a rechargeable battery and the charging circuitry.

10 years is also long enough that perhaps the tracker might stop being supported before its battery runs out.

Oh, 100% if you're burying one in an obscure place on your car, you want to set it and forget it, and you have the space, so the 10-year battery makes sense. I'm thinking of the more portable use cases.