Remember 2021? When the world was still flailing from the global pandemic, a period that Meta saw as an opportune moment to release a ‘social media smartwatch‘? That ended up not happening (we wonder why?), but according to a fresh leak from Digitimes (via Android Police), Meta is exploring the idea of reviving the project.
Watch this space
Meta is no stranger to making (often doomed) hardware, but its push into VR with the Quest line-up is still going strong. It’s the company’s recent successes with the Meta Ray-Ban (and soon to be Oakley) glasses that likely reignited the passion for a new wearable product.
Meta’s attempts to slap some tech on your wrist may not include many health-tracking ambitions, with the focus instead being placed on XR capabilities. While it’s still unclear what that would look like, it should help the company stand out in a sea of too-similar smartwatches from companies like Apple and Samsung.
The rumour is that Meta has partnered up with Chinese manufacturing company Huaqin to develop the tech, where the device would serve as a companion to its other smart wearables. It’s still unclear if it would reserve the technology for its rumoured pair of smarter glasses, or if current Ray-Ban owners would get a chance to play, too.
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The device is also said to feature a camera — something that works wonders in a pair of glasses — but how that would translate to something wrist-based is anyone’s guess. The company’s CTRL-labs has continued to work on similar technology, recently publishing a paper for a bracelet that uses neural signals to control a computer, which could factor into development here.
Until Meta confirms such a device exists, it’s worth taking the news with a grain of salt. The company has already killed off one smartwatch project, and it might just do so again. If there’s any new hardware in the pipeline, it’ll likely appear at the company’s Meta Connect keynote, currently scheduled for 18 to 19 September.
