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Meta is positioning AI-powered smartglasses as the next must-have consumer device — one that could even replace the smartphone as the primary tool for on-the-go computing.
The Big Vision: The smartphone — and by smartphone, we really mean the iPhone — has been the most important and widely used consumer device for nearly two decades. That’s long irked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose suite of apps (possibly the most-used in the world) has been gatekept by Apple. Smartglasses could give Meta the edge it needs to reclaim some of that power from the iPhone maker.
Behind The Lenses: Zuckerberg’s big pitch is that merging his investments in AI and smartglasses will usher in what he calls “personal superintelligence.”
- That would be achieved through the combination of hardware and software, allowing AI agents to be embedded in always-on smartglasses — seeing, listening to, and analyzing the wearer’s environment.
- Zuckerberg’s goal is to put a display directly inside the glasses — essentially keeping your eyes on a screen at all times, enabling wearers to “just interact with an AI system throughout the day in this multimodal way.”
- The key to pulling that off will be divorcing smartglasses from the smartphone — a connection that Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses and Oculus headsets still rely on to function.
- And expect Meta’s in-the-works wristbands to be a necessary tool for controlling these future glasses.
Last Looks: Zuckerberg has been laying the groundwork for his planned smartglasses revolution — pouring unprecedented amounts of money into AI and recently taking a $3.5 billion minority stake in Ray-Ban parent company EssilorLuxottica. At this point, he may rename the company “Glass” (remember his bet on the metaverse?).
Despite Meta’s grand plans, Apple CEO Tim Cook isn’t sweating it… publicly at least. While it’s common knowledge that Apple is lagging behind in AI, Cook said that smartglasses are likely “to be complementary devices, not a substitution” for smartphones. Still, Apple is also developing its own smartglasses. You know, just in case.
Foresight: We may soon need to add some extra layers to prescription glasses to account for in-lens displays and AR features.
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