Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, who specializes in breaking the latest Apple insider news, exclusively reported that Apple is developing a screenless health and fitness tracker, similar in form and function to Whoop’s wrist-worn device, as part of a rethink of the Apple Watch product line and an expansion of its wearables technology footprint. People familiar with the matter said Apple has explored this category for months and produced prototypes, and the project has gained backing from senior executives, but the company has not yet decided whether to launch the product.
As soon as the news broke, shares of fitness wearable maker Garmin fell as much as 2.5% intraday, while Apple edged up about 1%. The project is currently in an early stage that Apple internally calls a “technology investigation”; if it is ultimately approved, it will not launch until 2028 at the earliest. Compared with Nike FuelBand’s failed experiment a decade ago, Apple is clearly treating the “screenless band” as a serious business this time.
NEW: Apple is developing a Whoop competitor. https://t.co/Mz0Ua1qk9r pic.twitter.com/CnFbUBTRjp
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) September 22, 2026
What does the prototype look like: a fabric strap and a sensor module.
According to information obtained by Bloomberg, the prototype uses a thin fabric wristband connected to a sensor-equipped computing module that sits against the wrist; the sensors track heart rate and other body metrics, with capabilities similar to the Apple Watch. The lack of a display is its biggest difference from the Apple Watch, which is centered on a display and combines apps, notifications, and other diverse functions. The device does not yet have a final sensor array, official name, pricing, or launch date. This screenless band is expected to eliminate the hassle of daily charging, with a target price below the Apple Watch SE; Apple’s industrial design team is also exploring a higher price tier above the Ultra and Hermès versions. If all of this comes to pass, Apple will have significantly stratified its wearables lineup at both the high and low ends.
“Can track without disturbing” is the core logic of this product. Apple Watch’s screen brings notifications and interaction, but also distraction and charging anxiety; products like Whoop go the opposite way, doing only data collection and analysis. If the fabric band plus small module form factor is paired with aggressive downward pricing, it targets exactly the group that wears a traditional watch and doesn’t want to wear a second “watch.”
The Threat of Whoop and Oura: Apple Can’t Just Stick to Its Watch
Apple remains the top seller of smartwatches (especially in the U.S. market), but Whoop and smart ring maker Oura are growing rapidly, each with millions of users, forcing Apple to rethink its health and fitness tracking strategy. Competitors’ capital moves are also accelerating: Oura filed for an IPO this month, Whoop is valued at about $10 billion (about NT$325 billion), and told Bloomberg it is considering a future IPO. Google is also entering the screenless wearable market with the newly launched Fitbit Air, while Garmin already has a line of screenless smart bands.
Whoop’s strength comes from the professional sports world and its subscription business model. After its March 2025 funding round, Whoop reached a valuation of $10.1 billion, with a shareholder lineup that includes Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James, and golf star Rory McIlroy. In its early days, founder Will Ahmed’s core users were NFL, NBA, and PGA professional athletes. Its core metrics are Recovery, Strain, and Sleep, and it uses a “hardware-enabled subscription” model: hardware is merely the entry point, while revenue comes from ongoing health analytics services.
The internal push: Cook gives the nod as Cue leads the health landscape.
This potential Whoop rival has particularly won the favor of Apple CEO Tim Cook (Tim Cook, currently executive chairman) and services chief Eddy Cue, the latter of whom took over Apple’s health business late last year. Cue has continued to push the health team to embrace the idea of wearables with simpler interfaces, emulating Whoop and Oura Ring.
Apple Watch and the health business are going through a wave of personnel changes. Former COO Jeff Williams, who oversaw both businesses, has retired; Apple Watch marketing lead Stan Ng and fitness strategy lead Jay Blahnik have also left in succession. The launch of a new product category amid the leadership reshuffle also comes at a timing that fits the pace of transformation under Eddy Cue after he took over the health business.
Roadmap timeline: 2028 is just the start, and software is already leading the way.
Even if everything goes smoothly, the screenless band will not make its debut until 2028 at the earliest, because Apple has two other new wearables queued up before then: AI smart glasses and camera-equipped AirPods targeted for a 2027 launch. The Vision hardware team also took part in early engineering development for the new band. Another once-promising AI pendant (equipped with a camera, able to be worn around the neck or on clothing, and collecting visual data for the new version of Siri) has been announced as delayed. The Apple Watch lineup itself is also planned to get a major overhaul as early as the end of 2027, ending years of incremental small updates.
The software is quietly in place, too. The latest Apple Watch has added Whoop-style features: advanced heart rate tracking, a readiness score that assesses daily condition, and biological age estimation based on health data; iOS 27.2 is also testing a redesigned Health app with a more user-friendly interface. Apple launched the Readiness App on Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 on September 18, giving a daily readiness score from 0 to 10—essentially warming up the software engine needed for a screenless device on existing watches first.
Market and community reaction: “The iPod Shuffle of the Apple Watch”
The capital market moved first: after Bloomberg published its report, Garmin shares fell 2.5% intraday, with losses narrowing by the close, while Apple edged up about 1% that day, closing near $342.29.[2]Community reactions are polarized. On the MacRumors forums, some users exclaimed, “I’ll buy it right away. I don’t want a watch; I want this,” while others joked that it is like “the iPod Shuffle of the Apple Watch.” Many mechanical watch enthusiasts said they would be willing to wear a screenless band on their other wrist for health monitoring, but could not accept giving up a traditional watch. Another camp questioned: if it is still a watch-sized computing module plus a fabric strap, just without the screen, how is it better than simply wearing an Apple Watch?
Conclusion
This project is still in the “technical exploration” stage, and it could either die or launch; after all, Apple has killed no small number of wearable experiments internally (the AI pendant being one example). But the direction is already clear: health monitoring is breaking free from the “small screen on the wrist” and becoming a background service that can be hidden in fabric bands, rings, and glasses. For consumers, whether a wrist device needs a screen will go from an optional consideration to a must-have around 2028.
Source: KOCPC Chinese