Facebook may be working on a smartwatch for next year

The watch will also support video calling using one of the cameras, while the other will have auto-focus and 1080p video recording capabilities when detached from the watch. The company is apparently working with partners to create accessories for the watch, which will allow the cameras to be fitted to things like a backpack. The entire project is part of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO’s plans for the company to build more consumer devices.

We already know that Facebook is working on wrist-based devices, so a smartwatch may not be a big leap. The company had detailed a wrist-based device earlier this year, which can read electrical signals from a user’s neurons in order to interact with devices through gestures. While that device is more about developing controllers for ambient computing and augmented reality (AR) technologies, it looks mighty similar to a smartwatch.

The company also sells the Portal smart display in some markets, which is similar to Google’s Nest and Amazon’s Echo branded devices. A smartwatch won’t be the company’s first mobile product either. It also tied up with Taiwanese HTC back in 2012-13 to make the HTC First, a phone that was commonly called the Facebook Phone.

Making consumer devices is in Facebook’s best interest, since it allows the company to gather more data from users, which will help its advertising services. But like it did with the Portal, the company will have to deal with trust issues from users, when it comes to buying Facebook branded products that can record audio and video.