Google engineers are reportedly hard at work on a smartwatch to rival Apple's version, which could be released later this year.
With the smartphone market all but saturated, tech's heavy hitters are moving their sights out of consumers' pockets and onto their wrists—engineers at Google are hard at work on a "smartwatch," according to a report by the Financial Times.
The move, which the company has yet to officially confirm, will pit Google against Apple yet again—the iPhone makers are rumored to have as many as 100 staffers working on a watch that is likely to be released sometime later this year.
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But the big two will have stiff competition in the space—earlier this week, Samsung, the world's largest smartphone developer announced it's "working very hard" on a smartwatch, and a crowd funded Kickstarter project called Pebble raised more than $10 million from nearly 70,000 consumers.
Google is also planning to launch its much-anticipated Glass project—wearable, voice-controlled "smart glasses" that have many of the same features as a smartphone.
According to a patent Google filed in October, its smartwatch may include a Wi-Fi chip, a touchscreen and a "flip up portion." The Financial Times reports that Google sees the device as an accessory to, rather than a replacement for a smartphone.
Pebble, which launched in January, has a battery that lasts a week, an e-Ink screen (similar to a Kindle), and syncs with a smartphone to track its user's fitness.
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