[texec]

Beside the size it's probably a tradeoff on mechanical integrity: a keyring can introduce immense mechanical stress. On my last tag the small loophole just broke away after a year on a key that was not used daily or in harsh environments. With the AirTag you can just replace a $2 third party accessory. Apple didn't have to engineer a very durable (maybe milled?) loophole, which would have increased cost.

[jayd16]

This is what I would guess. They didn't want to see a bunch of broken look airtags floating around in a year's time and they also didn't want to spring for the metal reinforcement.

[fblp]

Great response. Thank you!