Meta Ready To Launch AR Glasses At "Connect" Event

Meta, preparing to launch its first augmented reality (AR) glasses (photo: x @analyticsinme)

JAKARTA Meta, Facebook's parent company, is preparing to launch its first augmented reality (AR) glasses at an annual Connect conference held at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California. The show is expected to be an important moment for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has long directed the company towards metaverse technology since 2021.

At the conference, Meta will also announce some of the latest updates to virtual reality products (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI). One of the highlights of AI updates is a new voice feature for Meta chatbots, which allows users to choose celebrity voices such as Judi Dench and John Cena.

The development of AR glasses is a huge effort from Meta, which has invested tens of billions of dollars in metaverse, AI, and AR technology. However, the project faces significant technical challenges. The head of Meta's Reality Labs division, which focuses on the metaverse, even stated last year that marketable AR products are still "a few years away from realization. Nevertheless, Meta continues to move forward with their ambitious plans.

According to sources close to the project, the first generation AR glasses will only be distributed internally to selected developers this year. Each of these eyewear units requires production costs of tens of thousands of dollars. The source, which requested anonymity because it was not authorized to provide an official statement, also revealed that Meta plans to send their first commercial AR glasses to the market by 2027. At that time, it was hoped that there would be a technical breakthrough that would significantly reduce production costs.

Mark Zuckerberg himself seemed to confirm this approach in a recent podcast show in San Francisco, in which he mentioned that Meta was "close enough" to showcase the first prototype of the AR glasses. However, until now, Meta has not made any official comments regarding the details of their plans.

On the way to AR, Meta has found temporary success with Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses equipped with cameras. This product has succeeded in becoming the most popular AI wearable device in the market thanks to the addition of an AI-powered digital assistant to its latest version.

These glasses were first introduced in last year's Connect event. Since being equipped with AI assistants, sales of these glasses have increased sharply. The CEO of EssilorLuxottica, the Ray-Ban maker company, has even revealed that the sale of new generation Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in several months has exceeded the sales of the previous generation for two years.

Although Meta has not released official sales figures, market research firm IDC estimates more than 700,000 units of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have been sent since the AI update was introduced. This success prompted Meta to extend cooperation with EssilorLuxottica, and there has even been speculation that the upcoming AR glasses may also be given the Ray-Ban brand.

In the near future, Meta is also planning to launch a new generation of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, which will be equipped with a screen that can display text and basic images through the lens. In addition, Meta continues to release software updates to improve the capabilities of AI assistants on existing glasses. Last April, Meta launched an update that allows AI assistants to identify and talk about objects seen by the wearer.

With all these innovations, Meta seems determined to lead the future AR and AI technology markets, although the path to commercial success is still met with technical and financial challenges