Anker’s New Smart Speaker Watches You Sleep

Anker is bringing the idea of sleep earbuds to its logical conclusion with a tabletop speaker that watches you sleep. As a part of IFA 2026, Anker annouced the SleepLab Pro, a tabletop speaker that can track your sleep using a 60GHz radar. Anker says the SleepLab Pro can keep track of things like respiratory rate and heart rate and can even sense sleep stages, giving it some of the key capabilities of sleep-focused wireless earbuds and other wearables like rings and watches. Part of the SleepLab Pro’s appeal is that it can also be used like other tabletop sleep speakers focused on sleep. It plays soothing sounds and has a light that adjusts gradually to help you fall asleep. The twist here is that Anker says that the SleepLab Pro actually keeps tabs on what combination of those things works, so you can return to those settings later on. © Anker If you have doubts about the sleep tracking part, I don’t blame you. One of the biggest questions for me is, “What if there’s someone else in bed with you?” On that front, Anker says the SleepLab Pro accounts for that and only monitors your sleep, though it’s hard to tell without using one myself. I’m also curious how well this method of tracking stacks up to something that’s worn on your body. Not all sensors are created equal, after all, and even wearables like smart rings have to infer sleep quality to an extent by synthesizing data. Can a speaker that just sits next to your body really do a good job? Hard to say, but I like the idea, at least since not everyone wants to wear a gadget while they sleep. Anker says there’s no subscription required to use the SleepLab Pro, but the company has yet to release some pertinent details, like whether it has a battery or can only be used wired—I’m assuming the latter. It’s also unclear what kind of drivers the SleepLab Pro has for use as a Bluetooth speaker. I’ve reached out to Anker for more information and will update this post when the company gets back to me. It’s going to take a little while until you’re able to try Anker’s SleepLab Pro for yourself. Anker says it will be released later this year, and there’s currently no MSRP on it. Until then, you’ll just have to wear a smartwatch or smart ring to bed like the rest of us.