CES 2026: Amazfit V1tal wants to track your meals without the hassle
Amazfit’s V1tal camera is back at CES, this time around with a sharper prototype and a clearer vision. It wants to turn your dinner plate into health data, automatically, without any manual input.
CES 2026 has brought its usual mix of useful, odd and unexpected tech, and Zepp Health landed somewhere right in the middle. The V1tal Food Camera is a compact, flip-open device that sits next to your plate and captures your meals as you eat. It uses periodic image capture to estimate ingredients, portion sizes and calories, sending that data to the Zepp app where it becomes part of your overall health profile.
Mind you, the thing still lives in the concept zone – but this is no throwaway idea. Zepp Health seems serious about turning food into a measurable, trackable metric.
What has changed since CES 2025
V1tal first appeared at CES last year in a behind-the-scenes demo. Back then, it looked more like a rough pitch than a product. This year, it was out in the open on the show floor, with a more confident presentation and defined functionality.
You place the device about 20 to 25 cm from your meal, activate Dining Mode, and eat as normal. The camera discreetly captures images at intervals, then syncs them to the Zepp app where Amazfit’s AI estimates what you ate, how much of it you consumed and what was left over. You can make edits if needed.
Zepp Health has confirmed that the device does not record sound and faces are blurred. For now, this remains a prototype, and the company has not committed to a release date, price or final hardware configuration.
It’s a simple process that could save you a ton of time compared to the usual manual food tracking methods.
Going beyond calorie tracking
What sets V1tal apart is that it is not just estimating macronutrients. It also pays attention to how you eat. That includes speed, skipped components of a meal and potentially patterns over time. From there, it can suggest improvements, like slowing down or eating more balanced meals.
The data links with other Amazfit devices via the Zepp app. That means users can track activity, recovery and sleep alongside calorie intake, all inside the same system. The goal is to build a more connected health experience, one that doesn’t require you to juggle multiple apps or enter food data manually.
It is worth noting that Zepp Health has already updated its app with a photo-based food logging feature. At first it looked like a minor addition aimed at smartwatch users. But V1tal changes the tone. This is clearly a step toward a more ambitious, AI-driven nutrition platform.
Competition is heating up
Garmin announced its own approach to nutrition just yesterday. Its new Nutrition feature, built into the Connect app, allows users to log meals, receive timing suggestions and connect food intake with training goals. The Garmin approach is fully app-based. Zepp Health, on the other hand, is trying to skip the phone entirely.
That puts the V1tal into an emerging category of health tech focused on passive data capture. You do less, the system observes more. Whether people are ready to be watched while they eat is another question entirely.
A bigger push from Zepp Health into health tech
Zepp Health has recently updated its food logging feature in the Amazfit smartphone app. Still in Beta, we were under the impression this was designed for smartwatches. But the company clearly has bolder ambitions. While the app update potentially makes food tracking a bit less of a hassle, the V1tal could take things a step further by doing all the work for you, capturing meals in real time and offering deeper insights into your eating habits.
A glimpse at Zepp Health’s bigger strategy
I’ve tried plenty of food tracking apps over the years. None of them stuck. Manually entering meals or scanning barcodes is always a chore. I am not entirely sold on the idea of being filmed while eating, but if the camera really can get the details right without effort, I might be willing to give it a try. It is definitely one of the stranger ideas at CES this year. But sometimes those are the ones that stick.
V1tal is not the only forward-looking concept Amazfit brought to CES 2026. The company also previewed the Amazfit Helio Glasses, a lightweight heads-up display for runners. Paired with an Amazfit watch, the glasses show pace, heart rate and navigation directly in your field of view.
There was also the announcement of the Amazfit Active Max, a new member of the Active line featuring a 1.5-inch display, 5 ATM water resistance and more than 170 sport modes. It is positioned as a versatile training tool for everyday athletes.
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter! Check out our YouTube channel.
And of course, you can follow Gadgets & Wearables on Google News and add us as your preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.
