Development of the Meta smartwatch has been suspended, Bloomberg reported today, citing an anonymous “person with knowledge of the matter.”
Facebook’s parent company has yet to confirm that it’s making smartwatches that can compete with the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch. He also declined to comment on the Bloomberg story. However, Bloomberg said Meta has been working on the smartwatch, codenamed Milan, for “at least two years.”
The publication said that Meta had intended to release its smartwatch next spring for around $350, but workers were “reported this week that the device is no longer in production.”
Bloomberg claims to have seen images and videos of a Meta dual-camera watch prototype to compete with the Apple Watch Zero. However, this dual camera design, which allegedly included a single 5MP camera south of the dial and a 12MP camera on the back of the dial facing the user’s hand, appears to have been part of the problem.
According to a Bloomberg source, the Meta’s rear camera was meant to allow people to take pictures of the outside world (after removing it from their wrist, of course). But the camera “has caused problems,”according to Bloomberg, with electromyography, a technology touted by Facebook that uses sensors to translate wrist nerve signals into watch commands. Facebook discussed the technology’s potential for applications such as “clicking”by squeezing and releasing the thumb and forefinger; virtual keyboards; and access to augmented reality (AR).
Bloomberg also pointed out that the economy is likely to play a role in causing Meta Watch to be delayed: Meta’s April 2022 first-quarter earnings report lowered expected 2022 spending from $97-$92 billion to $ 90-95 billion dollars. Although Meta has said it expects Reality Labs, which focuses on the Meta AR/VR “metaverse”and develops smartwatches according to Bloomberg, to be the second biggest cost driver in 2022 (behind Meta’s Family of Apps business). Meta told Reuters in May that Reality Labs would have to cancel and delay some projects due to costs.
However, if you’ve longed to wear a Meta product on your wrist, there’s still hope. Bloomberg says Meta will continue to develop “many other wrist devices”and may incorporate its smartwatch R&D features into another product.
These features, according to Bloomberg, include a gold-colored detachable watch face with two buttons and an eSIM slot; Spotify, WhatsApp and Instagram Stories apps; applications for tracking activity, heart rate and respiration; photo and calendar apps; and 18 hours of battery life.
A potential Apple Watch rival would not have a built-in app store that requires wearers to use a Facebook account to manage, according to Bloomberg.
The first image of the Meta watch prototype (as shown above) was apparently seen on the Facebook View app for the Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses in October. This came after a June 2021 report from The Verge that claimed that Facebook (as the tech giant was called at the time) was developing a dual camera smartwatch.