A report from Business Insider states that Mark Zuckerberg’s company plans to showcase a demonstration of augmented reality smart glasses at the end of this fall at Meta Connect. This product would have nothing to do with what they currently have on the market.
The glasses, internally called “Orion”, are a different product from the recently launched Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses and Meta Quest. The first product, although it includes some beta features of multimodal audio AI and a camera, does not have visual elements of AR.
On the other hand, Meta Quest glasses are mainly used for virtual reality games and a handful of mixed reality experiences. What would make these Orion glasses a “true” augmented reality device is the fact that they are supposed to be more technologically advanced, but we don’t know much more.
Meta wants to compete with Apple in its new field
The report suggests that there is a lot of internal pressure in Meta to deliver a high-quality demonstration and that some people within the company have been experimenting with advanced prototypes.
That being said, it doesn’t seem like the Orion glasses are ready for the general public yet. According to Business Insider, although the glasses will be showcased at Meta Connect, they won’t be available to the public.
Alex Heath, from The Verge, reported last year that the company planned an “internal” launch of the glasses in 2024, while the public launch was scheduled for 2027. Before that date, it is more likely that we will see a third generation of Ray-Ban smart glasses in 2025, with a “neural interface band” as an input device.
Any demonstration would probably be a means of whetting the public’s appetite for what is to come. Cultural norms also have to adapt to these products, which is why we are seeing companies like Meta and Apple now releasing more specialized mixed reality products.
One of the reasons why Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses seem to be working well is the fact that they have a familiar format and cover certain niches, such as content creation, surprisingly well.
As some media outlets wonder, should Meta present a demonstration of a pair of smart augmented reality glasses this year? It would be a smart move to convince us that living in the future of augmented reality is worth it.
