Meta✴ plans to add displays to Ray-Ban smart glasses as early as next year, in line with its strategy to create lightweight augmented reality headsets that can replace the smartphone as a primary device. Updated Ray-Ban Meta✴ smart glasses could be released as early as the second half of 2025. The display will likely be used to display simple images, notifications, and responses from the Meta✴ virtual assistant.
Image source: Meta✴
The first version of the Ray-Ban Meta✴ glasses was released in 2021 and was not particularly popular. The glasses became an unexpected hit with consumers after the latest version was released in September 2023, selling more units in just a few months than in the previous two years. The current model features hidden speakers, cameras, and microphones for listening to music, taking photos, and communicating with the AI-powered Meta✴ assistant.
«Meta has proven that these lightweight glasses, even without a display, can be fun and useful,” said Michael Miller, head of augmented reality hardware at Niantic, the developer of Pokemon Go and other augmented reality games.
Meta✴ does not comment on its smart glasses strategy. But in mid-December, Meta✴ Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth said that 2025 would be “the most important year in the history of Reality Labs,” the division that makes the Quest virtual reality glasses and headsets. Reality Labs has been losing money since its inception in 2020—in a long-term bet on the metaverse, the division lost $13 billion in the first three quarters of 2024 and brought in only about $1 billion in revenue.
In September 2024, Meta✴ unveiled a prototype of the Orion AR glasses and accelerated their development following enthusiastic feedback from early testers. Orion’s compact design, lightweight frame and innovative displays that overlay 3D content onto real-world images were hailed as a breakthrough after many failed augmented reality headsets, including Google’s Magic Leap and Microsoft’s Hololens. Meta✴ plans to turn Orion into a mainstream consumer product, although release is likely several years away.
Meta✴ is currently in the early stages of experimentation. Orion glasses are controlled using a neural interface that reads signals from the owner’s body and brain. The company is exploring the possibility of using a paddle ring to control the headset.
One of Orion’s biggest innovations is the use of silicon carbide lenses, which has previously been little used in optics. The new material allows you to create a larger and brighter image. However, the high cost and lack of large-scale production of such lenses pose a significant obstacle to making Orion an affordable product for the mass market.
The attempt to create augmented reality glasses with adequate performance and battery life at an affordable price still faces serious obstacles, including in terms of organizing a full-fledged supply chain.
Analysts believe Meta✴’s augmented reality devices bring the company’s artificial intelligence strategy closer to the mixed reality and metaverse that company founder Mark Zuckerberg announced several years ago.
Image Source: Getty Images