Meta cancels project to develop smartwatch that could compete with Apple Watch

November 15, 2022  16:30

Meta Corp. has canceled a project to develop a smartwatch that would have had many health monitoring features and could have competed with the popular Apple Watch.

According to Macrumors, the corporation recently told its employees that work on the smartwatch project is being halted as part of a cost-cutting program, moreover, structural changes are pending at the company. According to Andrew Bosworth, Meta technical director and head of Meta Reality Labs, the smartwatch development team will now work on an augmented reality device.

It was first in 2021 that Meta was reported to have plans to release a smart watch. According to rumors, the watch would have two cameras: a front camera that would be for video calls, and a main camera on which you could take photos and videos and then share them on Meta's social networks: Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. In addition, the watch was also planned to have cellular connectivity via an eSIM card, so that it could work without pairing with a smartphone.

Now, however, it turns out that work on this project has been halted. Meta has also abandoned its Portal smart screen project.

Things have not been going well at Meta Corporation lately. CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to lay off 11,000 employees, or about 13% of the company's staff, which, according to media reports, will be the largest layoff in the company's history. In addition, the company will stop hiring new employees in the first quarter until 2023.

One of the most obvious reasons for Meta Platforms' problems is the meta-universe, which does not meet the company's expectations of it or the investment it has made in the project. Users are not particularly attracted to this project, even though the company has invested about $36 billion here since 2019.

Tough competition in the market, slowing growth in the number of new users and the economic situation in the world have also led to problems.  


 
 
 
 
  • Archive