2024 was a big year for spatial computing, marked by the launch of two major virtual reality headsets: the powerful but expensive Apple Vision Pro and the more affordable Meta Quest 3S. While these devices transport their users to vast, strange digital realms, they can also be limiting, reducing (or even severing) the user’s connection to the real world.
That’s where their lighter and (um) portable cousins come in: smart glasses. It turns out that many people like a device that can be taken out of the house and out on the street. It’s incredibly convenient to digitally interact with the real world at the same time you’re looking at it, all without obscuring your view with a bulky headset or being distracted by a phone screen.
These more affordable front-end computers have come a long way since the days of the Glasshole. Smart glasses, which I’ll define here as Internet-connected glasses with built-in apps, have crossed the gap from an era of ridiculous, unattractive wearables like Google Glass to genuinely useful devices that you might not even be embarrassed to wear. in public.
Ray-Ban Meta is the big dog in the smart glasses group. Meta, a company whose reputation has been marred by its own often problematic lack of fashion, has managed to harness the long-established cool factor of the Ray-Ban brand to make a range of smart glasses that people really like it. They look pretty and have real functionality that many people can easily understand and that their proponents find incredibly useful. They can take photos and videos, act as headphones for music and calls, and use Meta AI-powered voice features to send text messages or ask about something in the world. New features added this month Give the glasses the ability to do things like remember where you parked your car and use Shazam to find out what song is playing near you. All of this happens without a built-in screen, meaning you can keep your eyes on real life.
The success of the Ray-Ban Meta frames has shown that there is a market for screenless smart glasses that don’t simply function as a virtual reality light. Smaller companies and startups have moved forward with every type of smart glasses imaginable. This year alone, we’ve seen new smart glasses, or the technology to make them work, from companies like oppo glasses, Vibeand Emteq. Some were a bit silly and disappointing, like Brilliant Labs Frames released in May. Others have yet to materialize, such as the company’s glasses. Looktech which work with a variety of different chatbots and have been billed as Potential Meta Ray-Ban Killers after the project recently surpassed its funding goal (by a lot) in Kick-starter.
However, AR glasses with a screen are still in operation. After all, a device that offers the user an active display screen or offers a window into the mirror world has long been considered the brass ring of spatial computing. Meta is pursuing this goal with its Orion glasses, an ambitious pair of AR technology that, while still in deep development, aims to do almost everything your smartphone can do, but on your face. Snap also plays a big role here, with cyberpunk Spectacles featuring apps that focus on social interactions for its younger, more playful users.
through the glass
Another leviathan of augmented reality has recently awakened. In early December, Google announced the launch of its Android XR software platform, which includes a pair of smart glasses with a display in the lenses. Google’s efforts are similarly a work in progress, but the company has an advantage due to the sheer size of its developer partners already building on top of Android’s many platforms. Google Glasses run Android apps, essentially taking many things currently found on a smartphone (maps, text messages, news) and putting them directly in front of your eyes.
“They’re probably the closest of the big, top-tier competitors that can offer something to compete with Meta,” says Anshel Sag, principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy. “Meta still doesn’t have a screen. So they could even beat Meta by sending one with a screen.”