Meta may launch its first augmented reality (AR) glasses in 2024. It will likely emerge as a marquee product for the company as CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants them to represent an “iPhone moment” for Meta.
Meta has already committed billions of dollars into the development of the project codenamed ‘Nazare’, Verge reported. The AR glasses will reportedly work independent from other devices, meaning they will not require a phone to work. This is a push from Meta to get out from under the thumbs of Apple and Google which dictate the policy on how apps should work on their device. However, a “phone-shaped device” may be needed for computing and CTRL-Labs-derived electrical pulse-based wristband will be required for control.
Meta plans to launch the glasses by 2024 and then release two more advanced designs in 2026 and 2028, according to the report. The 2026 version will be lighter and more advanced. The glasses apparently are in development and are expected to cost more than Meta's Oculus Quest 2 VR headset.
This first model of the AR glasses is expected to be based on Android and could offer full Augmented Reality with 3D visuals, eye tracking, an outward-facing camera, stereo audio, a wide field of view and a look that is socially acceptable. A centrepiece feature will also be added that would enable communication with other people's holograms, like Meta showed in a video that at its big rebranding event last fall. Mark Zuckerberg believes the feature will provide a more engrossing experience than simple video calling.
As per earlier reports, Meta had also been working on a different pair of AR glasses called the Hypernova which is also expected to debut in 2024. These will be phone-paired smart glasses that would show notifications through a small display.
While the Meta CEO may have big hopes for smart glasses, the company is yet to produce a working, wearable prototype of the AR glasses. The demonstrations during Zuckerberg’s Meta presentation weren’t based on any functioning hardware or software.
Meta's AR glasses would go up against Snap's Spectacles and other future models from Microsoft and Google. Microsoft and Qualcomm announced their partnership at the CES 2022 to make new chips for AR glasses that will follow the HoloLens 2 headset by Microsoft. Meta's first smartglasses, the Ray-Ban Stories, was launched last year with microphones, speakers and cameras built in.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
