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| Meta is set to compete with the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch later this year. |
For years, the tech world has whispered about Meta’s ambition to put a computer on your wrist. While the parent company of Facebook and Instagram has successfully turned heads with its Ray-Ban smart glasses, the journey to creating a Meta smartwatch has been anything but straightforward. Now, according to insiders, the project is officially back on track—and it might finally arrive in 2025.
The road to Meta’s first wrist-worn device has been littered with scrapped prototypes and strategic pivots. Rumors first gained traction years ago, with an initial model reportedly featuring two cameras being shelved back in 2022. By the following year, leaks painted a picture of a "Meta Watch V2"—a quirky device featuring a square display with heavily rounded corners, a noticeable notch housing a selfie camera, and an additional camera on the back.
The most intriguing aspect of that earlier design? The watch face itself was intended to detach magnetically from the wristband, allowing users to wield it as a standalone camera. It was an ambitious concept, but as Bloomberg noted in early 2025, the launch timeline slipped.
However, patience might finally pay off for Meta’s hardware enthusiasts.
A 2026 Debut with a New Identity: "Malibu 2"
According to a recent report from The Information, the project is not only alive but is gearing up for a materialization in 2026. Codenamed "Malibu 2," the smartwatch is expected to hit the market before Meta’s next mixed reality headset, signaling a renewed commitment to diversifying its hardware ecosystem beyond the visor.
You can read the full breakdown of the project’s revival and strategic importance here.
But if you are expecting the detachable, camera-first gadget from the early leaks, you might be surprised. Sources indicate that Meta has performed a significant strategic pivot. The flashy camera features that defined the initial concept are reportedly taking a backseat. In their place, Meta is placing a heavy bet on two sectors currently dominating consumer tech: health tracking and artificial intelligence.
The New Focus: AI-Powered Wellness
This shift is a savvy recognition of the current market landscape. While a detachable camera is a novel gimmick, the core utility of a smartwatch in 2025 revolves around health metrics and seamless assistance. By focusing on AI, Meta aims to differentiate the "Malibu 2" from the sea of existing wearables.
Imagine a smartwatch that doesn’t just track your steps but uses on-device AI to offer real-time coaching, or one that integrates deeply with Meta’s ecosystem to summarize messages and notifications based on your context. This move aligns with Meta’s broader company-wide push to infuse generative AI into every product layer.
Entering a "Much More Competitive" Arena
While Meta has enjoyed a surprising and dominant victory in the smart glasses segment with the Meta Ray-Ban Wayfarer—proving that fashion and tech can coexist profitably—the smartwatch market is a different beast entirely.
It is, as described by insiders, a "much more competitive" space. Meta is stepping into a ring dominated by heavyweights:
- Apple remains the king of the integrated health ecosystem with the Apple Watch.
- Samsung and Google have solidified their offerings with the Galaxy Watch series and the Pixel Watch, leveraging the improved Wear OS platform.
- Garmin and others cater to the hardcore fitness and outdoors niche with specialized, rugged devices.
To succeed, Meta cannot simply copy the competition. The company is betting that its edge lies in software innovation. By stripping away the complicated camera hardware of the original concept, Meta can likely reduce costs and complexity, allowing the engineering team to focus entirely on what the device does rather than how it looks.
The Road Ahead
The "Malibu 2" represents a major test for Meta’s hardware division. Can a company known for social platforms build a device intimate enough to live on your wrist 24/7? The pivot from cameras to AI and health suggests Meta is learning from its previous missteps.
If Meta can deliver a smartwatch that leverages its AI prowess to genuinely simplify your life—or integrates seamlessly with those popular Ray-Ban glasses—it might just find the foothold that has eluded it for so long. We won’t know for sure until 2026, but for the first time in years, Meta’s watch project looks like it has a pulse.
Featured Image Source: Daniel Romero (teaser image) / Person holding two watches via Unsplash.