Meta cancels Portal and smartwatch, focus on VR

Meta is revolutionizing its strategy for i hardware products: after canceled the production of his smartwatch now comes the end of the line Portalthe smart display for home video calls. Instead, it will convert the line to benefit businesses, with video conferencing hardware. And above all, it will continue to focus on products related to the VR and AR world.

Meta has canceled Portal and smartwatch, the attention is all for the metaverse

First reported by The Information and then confirmed by various American press sources, the cancellation of Portal’s consumer line marks a change of strategy important for the company. Marking a turnaround in Meta’s hardware projects, in which the company has invested heavily in recent years.

The Portal line has debuted in 2018 with two displays dedicated to video calling, with features like Spotify playlists and recipe videos. However, the proposal of two screens for the smart home has struggled to establish itself in one ifwhere Google and Amazon were proposing alternatives better integrated into their respective ecosystems. And the fact that Portal required a Facebook account in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal didn’t help.

Facebook first and then Meta continued to believe it, even releasing Portal Go, which was portable. But in 2021 the company only sold 800 thousand devices, less than 1% del smart display market. While there are four Portal devices on sale for Meta, it appears the company wants to convert this line to produce smart displays for workplace video conferencing. By continuing to invest in smart working solutions, perhaps introducing avatars and elements of mixed reality in this product line.

Focus on the metaverse

In addition to canceling the Portal line, Meta has also recently suspended the production of its smartwatch with a double camera, apparently due to construction difficulties. However, the company explained that it is working on projects, as the CTO explains Andrew Bosworth are Twitter. Hence the fact that Meta has discarded a prototype does not mean that a watch will not be released soon. Of course it seems that the focus has become another.

The attention of Meta’s hardware department seems to be entirely focused on the metaverse. In addition to the Meta Quest VR headsets, the company is working on augmented reality glasses. These glasses will initially be intended primarily for developers to create apps and features that are appealing to consumers. They will receive the second version of the glasses, codenamed Artemisand soon also a cheap version called Hypernova.

All these projects seem not only started but on the home straight. As if the company had decided to focus on products to build the ecosystem of the metaverse on which he is aiming so decisively.

In the future, perhaps we will be able to see Meta smartwatches and smart home devices. But what is certain is that we will see the company’s VR viewers and AR smart glasses. Very early.