Meta halts development of smartwatch citing cost cuts and technological challenges

• After scaling down its metaverse ambitions, Meta has reportedly halted development of its rumoured smartwatch.
• The smartwatch had WiFi, GPS, music playback and much more, suggest rumours.
• Meta has also stopped the development of an operating system for Oculus and AR/VR glasses.

California-based tech giant and Facebook parent company Meta has halted the development of the smartwatch. According to the media reports, Meta is now shifting focus on other wearable devices.

As per Reuters, cost cuts and technological challenges played a major role in the company’s decision to halt the development of the smartwatch. Also, citing business slowdown, the company hinted that its annual expenses may decrease by $3 billion this year.

Meta has also stopped the development of an operating system Oculus and AR/ VR glasses.

Rumoured features of Meta smartwatch
The smartwatch was in development for at least two years and was designed to include common features of smartwatches such as music playback, messaging, activity tracking and much more.

As per Bloomberg report, the prototype of the smartwatch has a dual camera. One camera was reportedly located below the display and the other sat on the backside of the watch. The second camera was designed in such a way that users could remove the watch face from the strap to quickly take the picture.

The second camera that sat on the backside of the watch caused issues as it was located around other critical components of the watch.

Earlier, Meta executives had discussed the potential of smartwatches. According to them, with the help of Meta smartwatch, users could interact with other avatars in Metaverse. Sensors in the watch could have potential to control their avatar similar to AR/ VR headsets.

The Meta smartwatch was Milan and it was originally set for release in spring 2023.

The tech giant has invested heavily in Reality Labs, in order to develop next-gen augmented reality, smart glasses and much more.

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