The Verge is covering the rapidly evolving world of wearables. We test everything from smartwatches like the Apple Watch, to smart glasses like the Meta Ray-Bans, to fitness trackers like the Oura Ring to find out which ones deliver on their promises. Follow along to find out whether covering our bodies in screens and sensors can actually make us smarter and healthier.
Oura is lobbying for relaxed wearables regulation. It has a point, but is regulation even the problem here?
Remember when EssilorLuxottica said it sold 2 million and would hit 10 million a year by 2027? 10M seems well within reach. “In 2025, we sold more than 7 million units of AI glasses, posting exponential growth,” said CEO Francesco Milleri. Prices may stay high in the short term, though, they hinted on the earnings call.
Sega has partnered with Seiko to make a limited edition 65th anniversary watch with a subtle Sonic the Hedgehog motif, though he may not be the best character to associate with a timepiece.
Lewise:
Shame it’ll always run fast
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The two companies have collaborated on a new timepiece commemorating Sega’s 65th anniversary last year. Available in a black or silver finish the watch’s face features the hours in a font matching the Sega logo found below Seiko’s, with a Sonic silhouette can be found on a subdial. They’re 71,500 yen each, or around $458.
Correction, February 9th: An image caption in an earlier version of this article misstated the watch uses an automatic movement. It features a quartz movement.
This is a great read about Runna — a popular running app that was bought by Strava last year. While many runners swear by it, several reported injuries from using the AI-powered running coach. (Including yours truly.) Runna’s now rolling out easier programs, which I’m going to start testing once this horrible cold snap lets up.
[Wall Street Journal]
This Politico story is a fascinating deep dive into Oura cozying up to the government. What caught my eye is a tidbit that Oura is lobbying lawmakers for a “digital health screener” device classification process that would sidestep the more intensive FDA clearance process for medical devices.
[Politico]
A passionate group of women rediscovered fitness in VR. They’re furious with Mark Zuckerberg for killing their community.
Good news, I’ll be on starting at 11AM PT / 2PM ET to answer them in a subscriber-exclusive AMA. Comment your questions in the post below. If you don’t have questions, come hang anyway. Tell me about your latest tech-related existential crisis or what you’d like me to cover in 2026. It’ll be a blast.
Mirumi is adorable. But living with it reminded me of the limits to the companionship a social robot can provide.
That’s according to Seong Cho, head of marketing for mobile, during today’s quarterly earnings call. Discussing plans for 2026, he mentioned XR form factors including “next-generation AR glasses.” Samsung has been developing the glasses with Google as a follow-up to Galaxy XR, but this is the first we’ve heard of a release window.
Tennis’s biggest stars keep being asked to take their Whoop trackers off at the Australian Open. The wearable is permitted by the sport’s governing bodies, but banned by the tournament, prompting frustration from player (and, um, paid Whoop ambassador) Aryna Sabalenka:
“All the tournaments I play, we wear Whoop. It’s just for tracking my health. I don’t understand why Grand Slams are not allowing us to wear it.”
Patent infringement lawsuits are heating up in the world of smart glasses, with Xreal suing Viture earlier this month and Meta being sued last year over the electromyography tech in the Neural Band used to control the Meta Ray-Ban Display.
The search for the contents of my mystery “GLP-3” vial leads further into the wellness wild west.
”In the United States, the new moto watch in PANTONE Volcanic Ash will be available for pre-order at motorola.com on January 22 (MSRP: $149.99),” Motorola spokesperson Brendan Hall tells The Verge. “The device will officially go on-sale on January 28.”
The watch was announced during CES. At the time, Motorola didn’t share the price.
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When I wrote about Nike’s “neuroscience-based” Mind 001 and 002 shoes, I thought they looked uncomfortable. The 22 nodes in each shoe are meant to stimulate your foot’s pressure points and relax your mind, and those nodes “hurt,” according to shoe reviewer Chris Chase at WearTesters.
They might be a particularly bad match for Chase, who has arthritis in the balls of his feet. Still, the discomfort and general gimmicky vibe is a pass from Chase (and me).
Smart lights that know where they’re placed in a room, wild designs for next-gen routers, and a glowing inedible donut.
Rollable laptops, twice-folding phones, and a ‘longevity station.’ This is the CES tech we come back for.
I covered Peri — a wearable meant to help people track and manage perimenopause — at last year’s CES. So many health tech gadgets at the show never end up making it to consumers, but good news: You can actually order this one now.
