Ray-Ban smart glasses: Both Meta & Google are courting the manufacturer
Meta is reportedly looking to buy a stake in its smart glasses partner EssilorLuxottica, while Google is also interested in working with the eyewear maker.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Meta is considering a 5 percent stake in Italian-French eyewear maker EssilorLuxottica. Based on the group's current market value, this would represent an investment of approximately $4.5 billion.
Negotiations are at an advanced stage, and it is likely that Meta will make the investment, according to the well-informed Verge reporter Alex Heath.
Meta is not the only major tech company courting EssilorLuxottica. According to Heath, Google is also interested in a collaboration and has approached the company to integrate Gemini AI into smart glasses. According to Heath, Meta's latest move could be a response to Google's approach.
In line with a leaked hardware roadmap, the Wall Street Journal writes that a third generation of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses with a "small screen" is planned for the holiday season of 2025.
However, according to a recent report from The Information, EssilorLuxottica has distanced itself from the project because the company "balked" at the bulky design of the HUD-equipped glasses. Meta's move may also be related to this, and may be an attempt to bring EssilorLuxottica back into the project.
Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses: A success that attracts the competition
The second generation of Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses has been a bigger success than Meta and EssilorLuxottica expected. The eyewear company's CEO, Francesco Milleri, recently said that the new wearable has sold as many units in just a few months as the first one did in two years.
Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this year that demand was outstripping supply and that production needed to be ramped up.
The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses were released in October 2022. The wearable has a built-in camera and speakers, but no display. In the US and Canada, the glasses have advanced multimodal AI features. For example, the AI can translate a menu card or describe what the users are looking at.
Meta sees glasses as the ideal form factor for AI assistants and has a potential technology hit on its hands with the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. Google's interest is therefore no coincidence.
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