{"id":621326,"date":"2026-10-05T14:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T14:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/621326\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T14:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T14:06:10","slug":"metas-ai-tamagotchi-looks-to-me-like-a-smartwatch-preview-for-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/621326\/","title":{"rendered":"Meta’s ‘AI Tamagotchi’ Looks to Me Like a Smartwatch Preview for 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was in the audience at Meta\u2019s Connect conference in late September when Mark Zuckerberg held up a pendant in his hands and surprise announced the Muse Charm<\/a>, a little novelty-like device with Meta\u2019s disarmingly adorable Muse AI agent onboard. Muse Charm is coming as soon as December this year.<\/p>\n

But the funny thing is, while most people called it an AI Tamagotchi, all I saw was a strapless Apple Watch. Is that what the Muse Charm could be, eventually? A watch as well as a pendant? Is this Meta\u2019s entry to wrist wearables in disguise? I\u2019m still thinking about it\u2026because smartwatches are also on their way to being AI assistants soon, too.<\/p>\n

Reports of Meta working on its own watch wearable have been cooking for several years now. At Connect, there were smart glasses galore<\/a> and even a new glasses-like VR headset<\/a> coming next year. But things were suspiciously quiet on the wrist wearables front.<\/p>\n

Meta already has one wrist wearable, the neural band that comes with the\u00a0Ray-Ban Display glasses<\/a>. But it received no hardware updates this year, which surprised me. The sensor-studded band uses electromyography, or EMG, to measure skin-contact electrical signals for a set of gesture controls to navigate the heads-up glasses display. Meta\u2019s already ambitiously promised that EMG could open up all sorts of neural input possibilities, even testing the tech in a smart car dashboard prototype<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As far back as last year, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth told me<\/a> that some sort of display or watch-like evolution of the neural band could be in the works next. And Meta already introduced a partnership with Garmin to link fitness tracking to smart glasses<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

AI agents as Meta\u2019s new priority<\/p>\n

The Muse Charm, however, brings a different piece of the puzzle to the table. Muse AI is Meta\u2019s biggest priority now, clearly, based on its widespread availability on desktops and smartphones and on the company\u2019s intentions to put the new agentic AI on all its smart glasses<\/a> and, eventually, Meta\u2019s VR Glasses<\/a>. And where else could Muse work well? Enter the Charm.<\/p>\n

The Charm has another watch-like tell. It\u2019s powered by Qualcomm\u2019s Snapdragon Wear Elite<\/a> chipset, which already runs on Samsung\u2019s latest smartwatches<\/a>. The Wear Elite, as I learned from Qualcomm earlier this year, is optimized for a range of AI-ready wearables, ranging from watches to pendants to even glasses. There\u2019s no reason why Meta\u2019s Charm couldn\u2019t easily get a wrist strap\u2026and a watch OS to go with it.<\/p>\n

\"\"Meta\u2019s neural band doesn\u2019t have a screen yet. Would it ever fuse with Muse Charm?Celso Bulgatti\/CNET<\/p>\n

Many reasons for a Meta smartwatch<\/p>\n

A smartwatch would benefit Meta on several fronts. Clearly, the company wants to keep breaking into lifestyle wearables, and watches could offer another way onto people besides faces. Fitness and health tracking would give Meta data that Muse and its smart glasses could use. And watches are a key part of the glasses interface\u2019s future. Google\u2019s glasses<\/a> will work with Wear OS watches soon. Apple\u2019s rumored glasses<\/a> will likely work with Apple Watches.<\/p>\n

And Meta has to find a better way to make its neural band more wearable. I find the first-gen neural band fascinating in theory, but an annoying extra thing to charge in practice. If it doesn\u2019t become a watch, or at least a fitness tracker, why wear it at all? The neural band doesn\u2019t even control anything other than Meta\u2019s one line of display glasses right now, but chances are Meta\u2019s going to try to figure out ways it could work with the rest of its smart glasses lineup, and VR too.<\/p>\n

\"\"Last year I felt like Meta\u2019s neural band felt naked without a watch display (Apple Watch on left, Meta Neural Band on right).Scott Stein\/CNET<\/p>\n

Google and Apple are already showing how quickly smartwatches are becoming more like AI companions. Gemini lives on Wear OS watches<\/a>. Apple\u2019s adding memory-assisting audio intelligence modes<\/a> to its new watches<\/a> later this fall. Both can tap into Gemini and the new Siri, respectively.<\/p>\n

Meta has Muse now. And a charm by the end of the year. Is the watch after that? Meta didn\u2019t have any comment on the topic when I reached out to ask, but I think we\u2019re seeing the beta test in action right in front of our eyes. Or is this the pivot to a modular idea that could be a pendant and a wristworn device, without committing to either?\u00a0<\/p>\n

One thing\u2019s clear, no matter what: Meta\u2019s looking for ways for that disarmingly adorable Muse mascot to be with us all the time, even without glasses. And the Charm looks like the experiment.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Scott\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tScott Stein\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEditor at Large\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tI started with CNET reviewing laptops in 2009. Now I explore wearable tech, VR\/AR, tablets, gaming and future\/emerging trends in our changing world. Other obsessions include magic, immersive theater, puzzles, board games, cooking, improv and the New York Jets. My background includes an MFA in theater which I apply to thinking about immersive experiences of the future.
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSee full bio\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I was in the audience at Meta\u2019s Connect conference in late September when Mark Zuckerberg held up a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[356,111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-621326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-gadgets","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}