Apple is developing a new screen-less fitness tracker that would put it in competition with Whoop, the fitness technology company whose valuation recently hit $10 billion.
Bloomberg reports that The iPhone maker is currently engaged in a “technology investigation” – which, as it appears, is an exploratory effort to decide whether it will fully develop a product and bring it to market. A number of prototypes were developed around the article, notes the media.
The device – which is described as “a thin strip of fabric with a sensor-equipped computer module” – would not be commercially available until at least 2028, Bloomberg said.
It’s worth noting that Apple already sells a fitness tracker in the form of its Apple Watch (the wearable tracks workouts, heart rate, sleep, and other categories). However, the new form factor seems relatively similar to Whoop, which sells simple fitness bracelets that the company says can track various health metrics.
TechCrunch has contacted Apple for more information.
The report comes at a time when Apple is in a period of transition. Tim Cook stepped down as CEO in August to now act as executive chairman, as new CEO John Ternus took the wheel. The company also faced challenges due to rising costs due to a memory shortage. Despite this, it promised a range of new devices, including a new foldable phone, new tablets and a new MacBook Pro. Meanwhile, it is engaged in litigation against OpenAI, which it accuses of commercial theft, as the battle to build the best hardware for the AI era continues.
