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Meta has unveiled a new range of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered smart glasses, marking its latest push to make wearable technology a mainstream accessory worldwide.
At its annual developers’ conference, Meta Connect, Chief Executive Officer, Mark Zuckerberg, announced the devices in partnership with sunglasses brands Ray-Ban and Oakley.
The tech giant also introduced a neural wristband designed to work with the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, enabling users to perform tasks such as sending messages using small hand gestures.
The unveiling comes amid ongoing scrutiny of Meta’s products and their impact, particularly on children, according to the BBC.
Calling the technology a “huge scientific breakthrough,” Zuckerberg showcased the new glasses before hundreds at Meta’s Silicon Valley campus.
The Meta Ray-Ban Display features a high-resolution full-colour screen embedded in one lens, allowing users to make video calls, view messages, and take photos with a 12-megapixel camera.
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However, not all went smoothly during the demonstration. A WhatsApp call to the glasses repeatedly failed, prompting Zuckerberg to admit, “I don’t know what to tell you guys. I keep on messing this up.”
Despite the hiccup, analysts suggest smart glasses may find more success than Meta’s multi-billion-dollar metaverse project, as glasses are less cumbersome and more practical than VR headsets.
The Meta Ray-Ban Display will be available this month at $799 (£586), while the Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses, aimed at sports enthusiasts, will retail for $499. The second generation of Ray-Ban Meta glasses will cost $379.
Though Meta has not disclosed sales data, it is understood to have sold around two million smart glasses since entering the market in 2023.
The launch comes as Meta undertakes a massive AI-focused investment drive, with Zuckerberg earlier announcing plans to spend hundreds of billions of dollars building vast AI data centres in the United States.
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