Meta unveils smart glasses for athletes
Meta announced plans last Friday to invest $65 billion in data centres this year but Facebook’s parent company has insisted it isn’t above releasing something that’s just fun to use. Bloomberg reported that plans to launch a version of its smart glasses aimed at athletes, with data tracking features designed to improve performance feedback.
These sunglasses for athletes will reportedly be inspired by Oakley’s ‘Sphaera’ design (pictured) and include a single camera placed centrally on the frame to reduce weight. This aligns with Meta’s partnership with EssilorLuxottica, the parent company of both Oakley and Ray-Ban, with whom they collaborated on their first smart glasses. Meta further strengthened this relationship last year through an investment, giving them access to popular frames and styles for future models.
While these new releases will initially focus on data tracking and performance metrics, Meta’s long-term vision includes fully functional AR glasses. The next step in this progression is the introduction of smart glasses with a heads-up display later this year. These Ray Ban Meta glasses (as they are now called on Meta’s product site) will offer features such as notifications, viewing photos via a small screen within the wearer’s field of vision and the ability to run basic applications. While not fully AR-enabled, these applications will offer digital overlays on real scenes.
Meta’s roadmap indicates that fully realised AR glasses with immersive overlays are still several years away, targeting a 2027 release. This timeline gives Meta time to develop more sustainable and cost-effective manufacturing methods, with the goal of making the AR device more affordable.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has been critical of Apple’s high price point for its VisionPro AR headset ($3,499). Meta, on the other hand, aims to lower the cost of its own wearables to achieve wider market adoption. While acknowledging that newer smart glasses will be more expensive than their current offerings (the new model is expected to cost twice as much as existing Ray Ban Meta’s), Zuckerberg predicts that future AR glasses will eventually cost about as much as a high-end laptop or smartphone.
Zuckerberg believes that smart glasses will surpass smartphones in popularity and usability over the next decade, potentially making the higher price tag more palatable. This shift would require significant changes in user habits and social norms to fully materialise.
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