Apple Developing Screenless Fitness Band to Challenge Whoop, Launch Possible by 2028

Apple (AAPL) is developing a screenless health and fitness tracker similar to Whoop, sources said, exploring the product for several months and building prototypes, though no formal launch decision has been made. The device would not arrive before 2028. The project, internally labeled a "technical investigation," has executive support and uses a thin fabric band with an embedded sensor-computing module and no display, differentiating it from the display-centric Apple Watch. Executive Chairman Tim Cook and services chief Eddy Cue are said to be monitoring it. Following the Bloomberg report, Garmin (GRMN) fell as much as 2.5% intraday while Apple rose about 1%. Apple faces fast-growing rivals Whoop, which is weighing a future IPO, and smart ring maker Oura, which filed for an IPO this month at a reported $10 billion valuation. Google (GOOGL) recently launched the Fitbit Air, and Garmin also sells screenless bands. Apple's Vision hardware team has contributed to early development.