Meta Revives Discontinued Portal Devices as AI Development Kits

Meta has found an unexpected second act for its discontinued Portal smart displays: transforming them into programmable AI development platforms.

The social media giant is releasing new agentic developer tools that allow Portal owners to repurpose their devices into custom smart home controllers, family message boards, digital art displays, or virtually any application developers can imagine. The initiative comes shortly after Microsoft unveiled its own similar effort, Project Solara.

Hardware-agnostic approach

While Meta is spotlighting the Portal as a use case, the company emphasizes that its new tools are hardware-agnostic and compatible with many existing devices. This broader strategy suggests Meta is positioning itself in the emerging space of AI-powered device repurposing, rather than simply trying to salvage its own failed hardware.

Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth demonstrated the potential by converting his own Portal into a smart home dashboard, showcasing the kind of custom functionality now available to developers and technically-inclined users.

From discontinued product to development platform

The Portal line, which Meta launched as Facebook-branded video calling devices, never gained significant market traction and was discontinued. The devices featured touchscreens, cameras, and always-on connectivity—hardware components that now make them suitable candidates for AI-powered applications.

By opening these devices to developers, Meta is effectively crowd-sourcing innovation for hardware that would otherwise become e-waste. The approach mirrors a growing trend in the tech industry: rather than letting discontinued products languish in drawers, companies are exploring ways to extend their utility through software updates and developer access.

Why it matters

This move signals a potential shift in how tech companies handle product discontinuation. Instead of leaving customers with orphaned hardware, providing development tools creates ongoing value and reduces electronic waste. For Meta, it's also a low-cost way to build goodwill with developers and explore AI agent applications without new hardware investment. The timing alongside Microsoft's Project Solara suggests major platforms see opportunity in the installed base of smart displays and similar devices that failed commercially but remain functionally capable.

Developer opportunity

The agentic tools represent Meta's broader push into AI agents—software that can act autonomously on behalf of users. By making these tools available for existing hardware, Meta is creating a testing ground for agent-based applications in home environments.

Details on the specific capabilities of the developer tools and their availability were first reported by The Verge.