Social networking giant Facebook is set to launch an updated version of its video chat device ‘Portal’ after 2019.
Andrew Bosworth, vice president of Facebook’s Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), has confirmed that the company has a lot more to unveil about the portal “after this fall,” The Verge reported Monday.
According to Bosworth, Facebook will release some “new form factor” that will be sent to the portal.
According to the report, citing TechCrunch, this “new form factor” may include a “replay” device that has appeared in the portal firmware repository.
According to Cheddar, the device, called “Ripley”, will allow customers to attach a camera to the top of their television set, eliminating the need for a dedicated video chatting device.
The device was first launched in November 2018. The smaller device was priced at $ 199, with the larger “Portal Plus” available at $ 349 with a 10-inch and 15-inch display, respectively.
The device is powered by Alexa, Amazon’s voice assistant, and comes with front-facing cameras.
“Hardware is coming home, and we want to make sure that the human connection, the connection between two people, is the first-party experience of that hardware,” Bosworth said.