Meta has cancelled plans for its two remaining smartwatches, according a to a new report from Reuters on the morning of November 11 (via The Verge). The company most well-known from a hardware perspective for its popular VR headset the Quest 2, had plans for multiple smartwatches, the first of which was cancelled earlier this year.
That smartwatch, codenamed Milan, had two integrated cameras. One with a 5MP sensor for video calls and one with a 12MP camera for snapping photos. It was an ambitious project to be sure. Despite the undoubtedly high amount of privacy concerns it would probably raise. But, Meta killed the plans for that watch in the middle of June. Which left two more watches on the table that it was working on.
As of today, those two projects have now been cancelled as well so the company can focus on its core hardware offerings – VR headsets. All of this is in the wake of the company’s recent job cuts. Which saw more than 11,000 staff lose their jobs.
Meta smartwatches aren’t the only hardware being cancelled
Smartwatches aren’t the only thing that ended up on the hardware chopping block. Meta is also stopping development on Portal. The company’s smart display akin to the likes of the Nest Hub and the Amazon Echo Show. Portal was designed with the intent of being mainly a video calling smart display. But users could also tap into other features. Like watching the news, playing music, checking the weather and more.
They could also be used for controlling smart home devices. Interestingly enough, you can still buy the Portal and the Portal Go from retailers. Though with Meta killing the Portal platform it’s probably not smart to dump money into one of the displays. If you’re looking for a similar option, the two others we mentioned above will serve the same purposes. Video calling, watching videos, checking weather, controller smart home equipment and so-on.
2022-11-12 15:07:20