Facebook parent Meta Platforms is planning to introduce its first smart glasses with a display at its Connect conference in September, along with a new version of its Ray-Ban-branded voice-only glasses, CNBC reported.
The monocular glasses, which are to have a small digital display in a fixed position in the right lens, are planned to come with a wristband to allow control of the glasses with hand gestures, the report said.
The monocular glasses, internally codenamed Hypernova, are planned as Meta’s first consumer-ready glasses with a display, following demonstrations of an experimental model called Orion at last year’s Connect conference.
Monocular display
Orion featured AR capabilities in both lenses, blending 3D visuals into the wearer’s field of vision, but was intended only as a prototype to demonstrate the possibilities of AR.
The display in the Hypernova glasses will cover about a 20 degree field of view and will be limited to relaying simple information such as text messages, CNBC’s report said.
Andrew Bosworth Meta’s chief of technology, said in an Instagram video earlier this month that monocular displays had benefits including lower price and weight.
Even so, Meta is reportedly setting low sales expectations, in part because the glasses require more components than the voice-only glasses, making them more expensive to produce, and are slightly heavier and thicker.
The Hypernova glasses are expected to be priced at about $800 (£595) and are to be sold in partnership with EssilorLuxottica, the parent company that owns the Ray-Ban brand.
Meta began selling glasses with Luxottica in 2021, with the first-generation Ray-Ban Stories, and the addition of AI features late last year made the glasses unexpectedly popular, creating a new market for such wearable devices and prompting the development of competitors from the likes of Apple, Google, Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi.
Wristband
CNBC’s report didn’t indicate which Luxottica brand the glasses might use. Luxottica, based in France and Italy, owns or licenses a number of brands including Prada.
Prada glasses are known for having thick frames and arms, which might make them suitable for Hypernova, CNBC cited unnamed people as saying.
As part of an extension agreement announced last September, Meta took a 3 percent stake in Luxottica worth about $1bn, Bloomberg reported. The deal also gives Meta exclusive rights to Luxottica’s brands for smart glasses for a number of years, CNBC reported in June.
Luxottica said in February that Meta and Ray-Ban have sold 2 million pairs of smart glasses since 2023. In July Luxottica said revenue from smart glasses had more than tripled year-on-year.
In July Meta wrote about its upcoming wristband in journal Nature, detailing how it uses sEMG sensor technology that reads and interprets electrical signals from hand movements.
The wristband was initially prototyped to control the experimental Orion glasses, Meta said in a blog post at the time.
Third-generation Ray-Bans
“Our teams have developed advanced machine learning models that are able to transform neural signals controlling muscles at the wrist into commands that drive people’s interactions with the glasses, eliminating the need for traditional – and more cumbersome – forms of input,” Meta stated.
Meta has begun trying to interest third-party developers in the Hypernova glasses and wristband, as it seeks experimental apps that could drive interest in the platform, CNBC reported.
Also at the conference, Meta is reportedly planning to introduce a third generation of its Ray-Ban voice-only glasses which will include touch gestures.