As far as I can tell, at least from the articles from 2021, you need need to have a Samsung phone.
The difference between the usage of the Tile and the Samsung SmartTag though is that apparently when you're looking for a lost item the Tile will ping off other phones but only if they have the Tile app, whereas the Smart Tag will ping off other Samsung phones (anonymously) whether or not they have the app installed. From what I can gather at least.
So, assuming that's true, while the Samsung Smart Tag does rely on having other Samsung phones around, the Tile relies on having phones that have the Tile app installed.