Soon, Meta won't let you buy its Portal smart displays

Meta reportedly axed another device, at least for us regular people. We recently reported that it has put on hold its upcoming smartwatch, which was supposed to be released next spring, and now, as The Information first reported (via Variety), Meta Platforms won't produce consumer versions of its Portal devices anymore.

Instead, the company has decided that it will only make Portals for its business clients. Meta will continue to sell existing Portal models until they run out of stock, and it will keep providing long-term support for its customers.

If you haven't heard of Meta's Portal devices, you are probably not the only one. These are basically smart displays, which Meta released in 2018. Their main function was to be used as video-calling devices, but they also offer access to Alexa and various streaming services like Spotify, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. You can also use them as a digital photo frame to display pictures from Facebook and Instagram.

Meta's Portals never managed to gain popularity among ordinary users. Presumably, this is why the company decided to stop producing them for the retail market. According to a source familiar with Meta's strategy, the company sold a lot of Portal devices to business clients throughout the pandemic. As statistics from the research firm IDC show, Meta shipped 600,000 Portal devices in 2020 and 800,000 in 2021. This is probably when the company saw the potential in its business users and decided to begin producing Portal displays exclusively for them.

There is no information on whether and how the business Portal devices will differ from those we can currently buy. However, if you have always wanted such a device but never got one, maybe now is the time to buy a Portal smart display.