Meta has cancelled the development of its smartwatch, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Consumertrics reports that photo of Meta’s smartwatch with a camera leaked last year, but nothing is heard of it since then.
Meta (and before it Facebook) has been looking for years for a route into hardware to diversify its business and to fill out a more vertically-integrated approach to building tech products, not unlike Apple and Google.
While Facebook-owned Oculus has produced the company’s biggest hardware hits, the watch becomes the latest in a line of stops and starts in Facebook’s hardware efforts.
Others include its ill-fated attempt to break into smartphones, the Portal screen, and a many-years-long effort with glasses (still not launched).
No reason was given for the cancellation of the smartwatch development.
As claimed by Bloomberg, a major reason might be design issues. The prototype of the watch allegedly had two cameras — a five-megapixel on the front and one rather oddly placed 12-megapixel camera on the back.
The company reportedly wanted to use electromyography and convert nerve signals into digital commands, which could be helpful in games and virtual world experiences.
But, the second camera proved to be a roadblock to that feature, and the firm decided to stop its development.
Meta had been aiming at releasing the watch next year with a $349 price tag. The company in April said it lost $3billion in Q1 in metaverse development.
