Apple has developed a new prototype fitness tracker that directly targets Whoop.

Apple is quietly making inroads into the screen-free fitness tracker market, directly targeting Whoop as its competitor.

Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported on September 22 that Apple is developing a screen-free health and fitness tracker, a wrist-worn device similar to products from Whoop. Apple has been exploring this category for several months and is currently working on prototypes.

The plan has received support from senior executives including Apple's Executive Chairman Tim Cook and Head of Services Eddy Cue, but Apple has not yet made a final decision on whether to launch the product.

The project is still in the initial stage internally referred to as "technical investigation". If Apple moves forward with the release, the device will not debut until at least 2028.

As soon as the news came out, the market reacted immediately. Shares of fitness tracking device seller Garmin fell as much as 2.5% during intraday trading, before erasing the losses and rising 1.6% for the session. Apple's stock price rose then fell back, closing at around $340.

01

The prototype adopts a screen-free design to differentiate itself from Apple Watch

According to reports citing insiders, the prototype is equipped with a thin fabric strap and integrates a computing module with sensors, with an appearance design highly similar to Whoop's wrist-worn devices.

The absence of a screen is the core difference between this device and the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch centers on the display and integrates multiple functions such as health tracking, applications, and notification alerts; while the positioning of this new device is more focused, concentrating on the collection and tracking of fitness and health data.

At present, the project is still in the initial stage internally called "technical investigation" at Apple, which means there is considerable uncertainty about whether the product will finally be launched.

Behind this new project is an in-depth transformation taking place in Apple's health and wearables team. Jeff Williams, the former Chief Operating Officer, who previously oversaw the watch and health business, retired at the end of last year; Stan Ng, who was in charge of Apple Watch and health product marketing, and Jay Blahnik, who led Apple's fitness strategy, also left the company one after another.

Eddy Cue, who took over Apple's health business at the end of last year, has been pushing the team to learn from emerging competitors such as Whoop, and introduce a more concise, health-tracking-focused product philosophy into Apple's system.

Apple's latest Apple Watch and the redesigned Health app have begun to incorporate Whoop-like features, including more advanced heart rate tracking, daily status assessment metrics, and the ability to estimate users' physiological age based on health data.

02

The competitive landscape is changing, with Whoop and Oura rising rapidly

Apple's move to lay out screen-free fitness trackers has a clear competitive background.

Although Apple still ranks among the top in the global smartwatch market, Whoop and smart ring manufacturer Oura are growing rapidly, with millions of users each.

At present, the screen-free fitness tracking market has formed a multi-party competition pattern: Garmin has long been deeply engaged in the fields of location tracking and fitness equipment; Google, under Alphabet, recently launched Fitbit Air, officially entering the screen-free wearable market.

Meanwhile, Oura has submitted its IPO application this month, and Whoop is currently valued at about 10 billion US dollars, and is considering future listing plans.

03

Larger product layout: smart glasses, AI pendant and watch redesign

This screen-free fitness tracker is part of Apple's broader wearable device strategy.

Members of Apple's Vision hardware team, which is working on the early engineering of the tracker, are not only developing the Vision Pro headset, but also advancing the first Apple smart glasses and AirPods equipped with cameras, both of which are targeted for release in 2027.

According to Wall Street CN, Apple was previously developing a camera-equipped AI pin device that users could wear around their necks or clip to their clothes to collect visual data for the new version of Siri to process, but the project has now been delayed.

In terms of smart watches, Apple is planning a major product line redesign as early as the end of 2027 to break the product rhythm dominated by incremental iterations in recent years.

The Apple Watch Series 10 achieved a thinner body two years ago, but the larger-sized Ultra model has not had substantial changes in appearance since it was unveiled four years ago.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Wall Street CN Max", author: Bao Yilong, published with authorization from 36Kr.