Not a fan of the smartwatch? Your next wearable could just hold your pants up while you go for a good long walk.
When you think of wearables that track your fitness, you probably think of tech on your wrist or hand. The many smartwatches are the norm as people turn to an Apple Watch, Galaxy Watch, Pixel Watch, or any other device with the word “watch” in the name, or even one of the other wearable bands made for the wrist or perhaps a ring.
But you’ll almost never think of something around your waist, even if a wearable can help improve the weight at that part of your body.
At CES 2026, a wearable encased in a belt style could just make you see wearables a little differently, even if its release could be a while off.
The concept is to place health tech at the waist, throwing sensors in a gadget made for the abdomen and sense body movement that way. There’s no contact with the skin, and it can theoretically be worn by anyone, particularly people who might be on the fence about wearing a smart watch or connected ring.
Created by Japanese company Taion, Vital Belt is a unique take on wearables, though one that reminds this journalist of some of the research Australia’s CSIRO did with gait analysis, which at the time noted could have been used for security rather than health.
Essentially, it’s thinking out of the box and going for another approach we’re not typically thinking about.
The catch with Vital Belt could be sleep, because people typically don’t wear their belts while they rest. It would mean there’s a bit of a point where the system wouldn’t likely work, and another wearable or sleep analysis gadget might have to take over, if one was needed in the first place.
Regardless, the Vital Belt is very much a proof of concept, with the idea being shown at CES. In terms of release dates, there’s no confirmed timeframe, though Taion has suggested some time in 2027.
