Facebook Confirms It Will Release Ray-Ban Smart Glasses As Next Consumer Device
Image via Facebook
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has now confirmed that Facebook’s next consumer device will be its smart glasses, made by Ray-Ban in partnership with EssilorLuxottica. This was news that came during the company’s second quarter earnings call on Wednesday.
There aren’t any visuals to go off right now, but according to Zuckerberg, they’re going to look like normal eyewear; no heavy, bulky, sci-fi-movie-esque offerings here. “The glasses have their iconic form factor and they let you do some pretty neat things,” he states.
What are the “pretty neat things”? That’s left mostly up to users to find out; the company hasn’t elaborated any further on this.
However, we do know that the smart glasses aren’t going to be fully AR, and that the development of the glasses is part of Facebook Reality Labs, the company's venture into XR technologies. Currently, with Project Aria—the glasses used to collect research material to contribute to future AR devices—underway, the new glasses being sent out into the world could provide new real-life data to enhance the team’s current findings.
This device is part of Facebook’s plans to become a “metaverse company.” Zuckerberg has revealed that the company has plans to gradually morph into a shared, liveable platform which will allows users to “teleport” between AR and VR social experiences, as Engadget reports.
The glasses don’t yet have a final release date, despite having been expected sometime in 2021. With more than half of the year gone, it looks probable that they’ll be coming pretty soon. Perhaps the plan is for them to be available closer to the year-end holiday season, just in time to be gifted and enjoyed.
Beyond thrilled to finally share a sneak peek of our Facebook partnership with Ray-Ban! Our first smart glasses will launch next year, and that’s just the beginning… The future will be a classic and it's coming in 2021 😎 pic.twitter.com/l9992ZQGoy
— Hugo Barra (@hbarra) September 16, 2020
[via Mashable, image via Facebook]
Also check out these recent news
