A Meta smartwatch? It could become a reality soon

The company led by Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, appears ready to take another step in the wearable devices sector. According to recent rumors reported by the U.S. publication The Information, the Menlo Park-based company plans to launch its first smartwatch by the end of the current year.

The project, internally known as the codename “Malibu 2”, represents a clear revival of the tech giant’s hardware ambitions.

According to sources, this unannounced wrist device will natively integrate the advanced artificial intelligence features developed by the company (Meta AI), in addition to offering sophisticated tools for monitoring health and physical activity, elements now considered essential to compete in this specific product category.

Meta smartwatch: the origins of the project and the strategic pause

It’s not the first time there’s talk of a Meta-branded wrist accessory. Already in 2021, various rumors suggested the development of a watch based on an open-source version of the Android operating system.

In the months that followed, the rumors grew progressively more insistent, describing a product with decidedly unusual features for the market, including a removable camera or, in some test variants, a hardware configuration that included up to three optical sensors.

However, during 2022, management decided to suspend work to focus company resources on other fronts. This decisive pause was prompted mainly by the need to contain costs within the Reality Labs division, which was facing significant financial losses.

The complex cost-cutting measures led, in January, to the layoffs of more than a thousand employees within the same division dedicated to developing new technologies.

Long-term vision and the wearable ecosystem

Following these drastic cuts in staff and budget, Mark Zuckerberg himself clarified to investors during a financial results call that the Reality Labs resources would be prioritized toward glasses and wearable devices.

Currently, the company’s hardware lineup rests mainly on virtual reality headsets and on smart glasses. Among the latter, models developed in close collaboration with Ray-Ban stand out, achieving notable commercial success, especially in the U.S. market, confirming public interest in face-worn technologies.

While the launch of “Malibu 2” appears an increasingly concrete possibility for the coming months, the company continues to plan the future of mixed and augmented reality.

The Menlo Park labs are currently engaged in the parallel development of four different AR glasses models and MR. However, the wait to try these technologies hands-on still seems long: according to the most recent reports, the official unveiling of the next mixed reality headset, internally identified with the codename “Phoenix”, has been postponed to the early months of 2027.

The introduction of a smartwatch could thus serve as a crucial link in the ecosystem of the group, expanding the ways in which users interact with artificial intelligence in daily life while awaiting the next major technological leaps.