Apple Inc. (AAPL) is developing a screenless health and fitness tracker similar to Whoop Inc.’s wrist-worn device. The project is still in the early prototype stage, and whether it will be released remains undecided. This move reflects Apple’s reassessment of its health and fitness tracking business as its smartwatch business faces a management transition and the rapid rise of competitors. At the same time, Apple is also making moves in wearable devices such as smart glasses and AI pendants. Meanwhile, Berkshire’s investment in Apple under Buffett corroborates, from another angle, the company’s long-term business value.
People familiar with the matter said this potential Whoop competitor has particularly attracted the interest of Apple Executive Chairman Tim Cook and services chief Eddy Cue. Cue took over the company’s health business at the end of last year. Although Apple remains the leading seller of smartwatches, competitors such as Whoop and smart ring maker Oura Inc. are growing rapidly, each with millions of users. Their rise is prompting Apple to reassess its approach to the health and fitness tracking business.
Members of Apple’s Vision hardware team participated in the early engineering work on this new tracker. That team developed the Vision Pro headset and is currently developing other wearable devices, including Apple’s first smart glasses and AirPods with cameras, both of which are targeting a 2027 release. Apple is also developing an AI pendant with a camera, although the project has been delayed. As envisioned, users could wear it as a necklace, clip it to clothing, or place it on other parts of the body, allowing it to collect visual data for processing by a new generation of the Siri AI assistant. Apple is also integrating artificial intelligence into its products through other efforts. Earlier this month, the company launched a watch that can record all day and use AI to generate summaries of the wearer’s conversations and activities. The company is also undertaking a major update to its smartwatch product line, with a release as early as the end of 2027.
As early as 2020, Buffett called Apple “probably the best business I know in the world,” adding that he did not view Apple as a stock. “I view it as our third business.” The first investment in Apple stock was in the first quarter of 2016, buying 9.8 million shares when the stock price was about $25 per share. By the end of 2017, Apple had become Berkshire’s largest holding, accounting for about 15% of its total portfolio. Six years later, by the end of 2023, Berkshire had accumulated a $17.4 billion investment in Apple, accounting for 50% of its $347 billion portfolio. After that, Buffett began reducing Berkshire Hathaway’s Apple holdings. Apple remains Berkshire’s largest holding, but “only” a $66 billion investment, accounting for 22% of the total portfolio.
