Leaked photo of Meta’s ‘Milan’ smartwatch shows the device will feature a front-facing camera

Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, is developing a smartwatch that boasts a front-facing camera to rival Apple’s highly popular Watch.

The social media platform’s device, codenamed ‘Milan,’ was spotted as an image inside its iPhone apps, as first reported on by Bloomberg.

The image was spotted in Meta’s app for controlling its newly announced its Ray-Ban Stories smartglasses and spotted by app developer Steve Moser who shared the discovery on Twitter.

‘Facebook… I mean Meta casually left this image of their ‘Milan’ smart watch in their ‘Facebook View’ app. Now Meta joins the notch conversation with a bottom notch,’ Moser wrote.

He continued to explain that the watch will also be stainless steel and looks detachable from the band.

Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, is developing a smartwatch that boasts a front-facing camera to rival Apple’s highly popular Watch. The social media platform’s device, codenamed ‘Milan,’ was spotted as an image inside its iPhone apps

News of Facebook developing a smartwatch is not new, as rumors of the device first surfaced in February in a report from The Information that said the company is ‘far along’ with the development and could release the device next year – with a second–generation as soon as 2023.

However, Bloomberg reports that consumers could expect a third generation of the smartwatch as well, people familiar with the matter told the publication.

The move is likely to get a piece of Apple’s pie in the smartwatch business, which the tech giant makes at least $12 billion a year with its Watch.

And Apple just released its Series 7 last month, which features narrow boarders around the face that allow for a near all-screen display -making it 20 percent larger than the Series 6.

The image was spotted in Meta’s app for controlling its newly announced its Ray-Ban Stories smartglasses and spotted by app developer Steve Moser who shared the discovery on Twitter

The image was spotted in Meta’s app for controlling its newly announced its Ray-Ban Stories smartglasses and spotted by app developer Steve Moser who shared the discovery on Twitter

The move is likely to get a piece of Apple’s pie in the smartwatch business, which the tech giant makes at least $12 billion a year with its Watch. And Apple just released its Series 7 (pictured) last month

The move is likely to get a piece of Apple’s pie in the smartwatch business, which the tech giant makes at least $12 billion a year with its Watch. And Apple just released its Series 7 (pictured) last month

However, if Meta can pull off a smartwatch, it will be the first to include a front-facing camera.

News of the social media firm’s new device came just hours after CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed Facebook’s new name, Meta, during the live-streamed virtual and augmented reality Connect 2021 keynote, which also saw a new headset.

The device, codenamed Project Cambria, was only shown in a brief video that left room for the imagination.

However, the CEO revealed some of the new features that makes it a ‘high-end’ virtual and augmented reality headset.

It will include sensors that enable a user’s avatar to make natural eye contact and facial expressions in real time while in the metaverse.

The headset will also allow for mixed reality – the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments – using cameras that pass high-resolution full-color video to the headset’s screens.

News of the social media firm’s new device came just hours after CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed Facebook’s new name, Meta, during the live-streamed virtual and augmented reality Connect 2021 keynote, which also saw a new headset. The device, codenamed Project Cambria, was only shown in a brief video that left room for the imagination

News of the social media firm’s new device came just hours after CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed Facebook’s new name, Meta, during the live-streamed virtual and augmented reality Connect 2021 keynote, which also saw a new headset. The device, codenamed Project Cambria, was only shown in a brief video that left room for the imagination

The headset aims to bring Meta's metaverse to life

The headset aims to bring Meta’s metaverse to life 

Zuckerberg said Project Cambria is ‘not the next Quest,’ although it will be compatible with the device, but will be its own product and cost more than the current headsets.

A pair of controllers are shown with control indicators like those of the Oculus Quest – without the extra loop above the buttons.

A release date was not revealed during the live event, but Zuckerberg hinted that the new headset will be out sometime next year.

Although the Connect 2021 keynote conference mainly focused on Meta’s metaverse, those watching were more interested in the rebrand of the company.

The social media platform announced last week that it was changing its name in a rebrand that focuses on its ambitions building the ‘metaverse.’

The name change comes as the world’s largest social media company battles criticisms from lawmakers and regulators over its market power, algorithmic decisions and the policing of abuses on its platforms.

‘Right now, our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can’t possibly represent everything that we’re doing today, let alone in the future,’ said Zuckerberg.

The company, which has invested heavily in augmented and virtual reality, said the change would bring together its different apps and technologies under one new brand. It said it would not change its corporate structure.



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