Microsoft worked on an Xbox-branded smartwatch, images suggest

Microsoft once had plans to release an Xbox smartwatch, new photos suggest.

Images of an early prototype were first published by SuomiMobiili (thanks, NeoWin).

The device is said to have been in the works around 2013, for a release in 2015. It would have worked with Microsoft Surface tablets to charge via a magnetic connector.

There's no word on which apps or games the watch would have run, but the images of the device's form factor hold a couple of clues.

Some kind of health tie-in looks likely, due to what looks like a heart-rate monitor on the rear of the device.

And yet the Xbox branding suggests this would have been a gaming-orientated accessory. Other companies have released their own wearable tech based around fitness - perhaps Microsoft wanted to take an alternative approach?

Regardless, the device was never released - and in 2014 Microsoft went down the fitness watch route by launching the Microsoft Band.