Meta is about toenter(subscription required) the smartwatch industry, expanding its successful wearables business. The company plans to target a different demographic of users with unique watches, as other tech companies have already garnered significant market share in this sector.

Meta’s smartwatches will likely be equipped with cameras, as the company wants to increase user interaction with the metaverse. Furthermore, these watches will be able to complement the upcoming smart AR glasses by Meta, the first model of which may come out as soon as this year’s end.

This wouldn’t be the first time that a smartwatch would feature a camera. Perhaps the most popular example I can provide of a similar product is the first ever Samsung Galaxy Gear watch. If Meta’s approach catches on, then Samsung — and rivals like Apple — may also consider revisiting smartwatches with cameras.

The first Galaxy Gear’s camera wasn’t great, but technology has come a long way since 2013. It’s why Meta is even considering this whole idea in the first place. The company’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, powered by Meta AI, became such an unprecedented success that Meta immediately restructured its VR division to focus more on wearables.

AR glasses are the future of smartphones, or so Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes. As such, the company has invested billions into being the first to market with a consumer product. The end goal is to make an affordable version of the Meta Orion glasses.

Apple, Google, and Samsung have taken notice. CEOTim Cookis obsessed with beating Meta to the punch, while Google and Samsung have teamed up to release Project Moohan. Much like Meta’s plans for smartwatches equipped with cameras,Project Moohan is just an experimentto test the waters and gauge interest.

From what I can tell, Meta wants to replace the smartphone with its AR glasses, but is also considering keeping smartwatches around, possibly as a second source of revenue. Except, this time they’ll be connected to the glasses instead of a phone.

I’m doubtful of the amount of friction this would reduce: it’s not like you’re constantly pulling glasses out of your pocket. But I’m excited to see where this leads nevertheless.