Apple develops screenless health band to rival Whoop

Apple is developing a screenless health and fitness tracking wristband to rival Whoop as it rethinks its wearable lineup, according to people familiar with the matter. The prototypes feature a thin fabric band with a processing module equipped with sensors. The project is in an early stage known internally as technology investigation and would likely not reach the market before 2028.

The device has drawn interest from Apple board chairman Tim Cook and services chief Eddy Cue, who took over health efforts late last year. The transition follows the retirement of former chief operating officer Jeff Williams, as well as the departures of Stan Ng, who led Apple Watch and health marketing, and Jay Blahnik, who led fitness strategy. Members of Apple's Vision hardware team, which built the Vision Pro headset, helped with early engineering on the tracker.

Following Bloomberg's report on the plans, shares of fitness tracker maker Garmin fell as much as 2.5% to session lows. Apple shares were up about 1% at $342.29 at 12:26 p.m. in New York. The screenless wearable space already includes Garmin, Whoop, and Alphabet's Google, which recently released the Fitbit Air. Meanwhile, smart ring maker Oura filed for an initial public offering this month, and Whoop, valued at about $10 billion, told Bloomberg News it is considering a future IPO.

Apple is also planning a major redesign of its smartwatch lineup as soon as late 2027. It is working on smart glasses and camera-equipped AirPods slated for 2027, while a camera-enabled artificial intelligence pendant has been postponed. Earlier this month, Apple introduced a watch capable of recording audio throughout the day and using AI to generate summaries.