By Mark Gurman | Bloomberg
Meta Platforms is working on upgrades to its popular smart glasses and is exploring new wearable devices such as watches and camera-equipped earbuds, aiming to embed its artificial intelligence features into more products.
The effort includes developing Oakley-branded smart glasses for athletes this year, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Meta’s devices group, Reality Labs, also plans to release new high-end glasses with a built-in display in 2025, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the initiatives haven’t been announced.
Other products underway would compete with Apple Inc.’s smartwatch and AirPods, the people said. And the company is making headway on its first true augmented reality product — a holy grail for the tech industry — for release around 2027. A representative for Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, declined to comment on the company’s plans.
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The flurry of products is part of a bid to reposition Meta as an AI innovator, with a focus on hardware that can usher in the next era of computing. The social media company has spent tens of billions on augmented and virtual reality development and launched multiple versions of headsets and glasses, but broad consumer acceptance has remained elusive.
Meta currently sells Ray-Ban glasses that are embedded with cameras, microphones and other technologies. Though they stop short of being an AR device — one that superimposes data and images on real world views — the spectacles can take pictures, analyze the surrounding environment, play music and handle calls.
That product line, internally code-named “Supernova,” will be expanded in three major ways. First, the company is planning to introduce its current Ray-Ban glasses to new markets. Second, Meta is broadening its smart glasses technology to other fashion brands owned by partner Luxottica Group SA. That includes a new version — dubbed “Supernova 2” — that is based on Oakley’s Sphaera glasses. This model, which shifts the camera to the center of the glasses frame, will be aimed at cyclists and other athletes.
The biggest upgrade this year will be a new higher-end offering that uses a design that’s closer to the current Ray-Ban glasses. Code-named “Hypernova,” this model will include a display on the bottom portion of the right lens that projects information into a user’s field of view. People would be able to run simple software apps, view notifications and see photos taken by the device — capabilities that get a bit closer to the long-promised AR experience.
The device would carry a higher price tag. Some employees involved in the project expect the Hypernova glasses to cost around $1,000, compared with a $299 starting price for the current Meta Ray-Bans.
Meta is testing an approach that lets users rely on a wrist strap — dubbed “Ceres” — to control the glasses. The Menlo Park, California-based company has discussed offering this accessory in the same box as the Hypernova spectacles, which will also have touch controls on the frame’s temple. The temple approach would be the standard input method if the wrist accessory doesn’t pass muster.
The strap controller would be similar to one used by Meta’s Orion prototype AR glasses, an unreleased product that the company showed off last year. The Hypernova product also may work with a smartwatch, but Meta doesn’t yet offer such a device.
For about half a decade, Meta has explored releasing a smartwatch that would compete with models from Apple, Samsung Electronics Co. and others. Over the years, the company has changed the project’s details and priorities, and it’s canceled and uncanceled the device multiple times. Meta is now again weighing the idea of releasing a watch as early as this year — with a display that would be able to show photos taken with the company’s smart glasses.
For now, Meta’s glasses are essentially an accessory to users’ smartphones — rather than a true replacement. But the company is moving toward more of an all-in-one product that would let consumers dispense with carrying a phone and other devices.
The Orion prototype, which relies on an external puck to handle computing, is a step toward that. The company aims to start offering that device to software developers in 2026 so they can build and test applications for it. The glasses would then be more enticing to consumers when they’re released broadly.
Orion itself will never be released to customers. Instead, the company looks to begin selling a follow-up version code-named “Artemis” as early as 2027. Meta still needs to overcome challenges relating to costs, display technology and manufacturing before actually shipping it.
But people with knowledge of Artemis prototypes say they’re more advanced than the Orion test units and aren’t as heavy. Weight has been a stumbling block for other headset devices, including Apple’s Vision Pro.
Meta also is creating prototypes of an AirPods rival with built-in cameras that can see the outside world and take action using AI. If Meta decides to produce the earbuds for consumers, they likely wouldn’t hit the market for a couple of years.
Such a device would let users look at an object and ask the earbuds to analyze the item. The features would be similar to what Meta already offers with the Ray-Ban smart glasses, but in a product form that’s already popular with consumers.
But here too there have been snags. It’s harder for people with long hair to use the device, for example. Meta also remains unsatisfied with the angle of the cameras in recent demo versions. Work on the earbuds, called “Camera Buds” internally, remains early, the people said. And it’s always possible that the company cancels the project if it can’t resolve the challenges.
Apple also is exploring the idea of putting cameras on earbuds and has made progress over the past few months, Bloomberg News has reported. Samsung, which sells earbuds that are similar to Apple’s AirPods, is considering a version with cameras as well, according to other people with knowledge of the matter.