Meta No Longer Plans To Sell Portal Displays To The General Public
Meta no longer plans to sell its Portal lineup directly to consumers and instead intends to reposition the devices for business use, according to new reports. Meta, formerly Facebook, is no stranger to controversy and the Portal line was also met with some initial resistance and concerns. Regardless of those concerns, this latest reported change might just simply make good business sense for Meta.
The first Portal product was released back in 2018 as a smart display equipped with a camera. The idea was to make it easier for friends and family to keep in touch via video calls. Since then, the lineup has continued to expand. For example, consumers can currently pick up a Portal TV, a camera-enabled device that connects to a smart TV to add video-calling functionality. Even more recently, Meta released a Portal Go, a smaller smart display with a built-in battery, along with a Portal+, an updated version of the original model.
Related: Meta's Future VR Avatars Already Look Scarily Real
Originally reported by The Information, Meta is currently planning to transition Portal from a consumer-based to a business-focused product line with all new models no longer being offered directly to consumers. Following the initial report, a “source familiar with the matter” also confirmed the directional change to The Verge. According to the reports, the change will not only better cater to the video-calling strengths of the Portal line, but also reduce costs for the company in general.
As these were Facebook hardware devices, and considering the various data-related issues and concerns that were being raised at the time the Portal line launched, there were some concerns that a Facebook camera in the home could be a little too much. Even
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