Meta will be showcasing years of research into new augmented reality glasses at this year’s developer conference.
The first version of what is considered the company’s “true” AR glasses is an internal project called Orion, which is expected to be unveiled this fall, possibly during Meta’s annual Connect conference for third-party developers. The AR team was asked to demonstrate his high-tech glasses during Connect, ensuring a high level of performance, according to two people familiar with his plans who were identified and asked by Business Insider. It is said that there is pressure from within to do so. They remain anonymous so they can speak freely.
The AR glasses won’t go on sale to the public after they’re announced, but one of the people said several employees are already experimenting with advanced prototypes. The new product demo could spark industry excitement about Meta’s big-ticket venture into high-tech wearables.
The AR glasses are a separate product from Meta’s well-known Ray-Ban smart glasses and Quest headset. The Orion project has been in the works for several years in his Reality Labs division at Meta, which handles his AR and VR work as well as all AI and Metaverse-related projects.
Reality Labs is the purview of Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth, but the projects within it have a strong interest in CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who closely monitors Reality Labs’ work. Earlier this month, he posted a photo of multiple versions of Metaglass on his desk in a thread. Officials say the photos show some prototypes of unreleased AR glasses and at least two eyeglass frames that are much thicker than the currently available metasmart glasses.
A Meta spokesperson declined to comment.
AR glasses overall are a major part of Meta’s future plans as a wearables and hardware business. According to The Verge’s report on Meta’s multi-year roadmap for wearables, Meta plans to release a second version of its new AR glasses to early adopters in 2027 or 2028. So far, Meta’s AR glasses are expensive to manufacture and much harder to sell in retail stores.
In an interview with The Verge in December, Bosworth teased that he expected people to “get a chance to play with full AR glasses in 2024.” He did not say there would be a demo at Connect. Bosworth also said that AR glasses were built through a “prohibitively expensive technological path” and that the results so far “may be the most advanced that humanity has ever produced.” “No,” he said, referring to household appliances.
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