Rumor: Facebook wants to sell ‘video chat device’ from the end of this year

Facebook plans to sell a device that will allow users to video chat from the end of this year. The device is said to have a touchscreen and a camera. It should cost $499 and bear the name Portal.

Facebook would like to showcase the device at its own developer conference F8 this spring, Cheddar reports. The release should then take place in the fall, at the most towards the end of the year. Cheddar reports that Facebook is still considering the price of $499, because it may want to ask for a lower price to make the device more attractive.

The Facebook Portal should compete with Amazon’s Echo Show and the Smart Displays with Google Assistant from various manufacturers. The Echo Show has been on sale in the United States for some time, but the Google screens are not yet available. They will come later this year.

It is not the first time that rumors have surfaced about the Portal. That also happened last summer. Facebook’s subsidiary Oculus is making a VR headset for consumers with the Rift. The Portal would be Facebook’s first consumer hardware.