Meta has tasted some unprecedented success with its Stories smart glasses, created in collaboration with Ray-Ban. The premise of a wearable device with onboard cameras, ready to take social media videos, coupled with an onboard AI assistant, has proved hot enough that Meta has even made high-fashion variants for the upscale market.
What they have sorely missed so far, is an interactive screen. The next avenue for Meta is apparently putting a display on its fashionable smart glasses and taking their functional appeal to the next level. But that convenience will apparently come at a steep ask. According to Bloomberg, customers are in for a sticker shock worth a thousand dollars at the very least.
“Meta employees estimate pricing for the device, which is code named Hypernova, will come in at over $1,000 and as high as $1,300 to $1,400, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing unannounced products,” says the report. Notably, the smart glasses could hit the shelves by the end of 2025.
For comparison, a typical VR-ready pair of smart glasses in the market usually falls within the $500 range. The Viture Pro, Xreal One, and Rokid Max are some of the most popular products in the category, offering a high-resolution screen with plenty of connected spatial computing chops and stylish looks to go with it.
A stylish pirate eye-patch?
The current trend with VR smart glasses is offering a display unit for each eye, mounted behind the lens. Some even offer a focus correction facility for people who wear prescription glasses. Meta’s upcoming smart glasses could take a less-immersive (or minimally distracting) approach to embracing a display.
As per Bloomberg, the company is eyeing a monocular approach, which means the wearable device will only offer a display unit for the right eye, one that is positioned in the lower right corner behind the lens.
“That means information will only be displayed in front of the wearer’s right eye and will appear most clearly when they are looking downward,” says the report. The most obvious reason for it? The person wearing it is not entirely cut off from the world, retaining a clear pass-through vision through the left lens.
The “Hypernova” smart glasses will let users take pictures, view media, access map navigation, and check notifications from connected apps like WhatsApp. UI controls will be handled by touch gestures on the stem, using a mix of swipes and taps.
Interestingly, Meta also plans to offer a wristband that will allow users to control the UI using hand gestures such pinch-to-zoom and wrist rotation. This accessory, currently in development under the codename “Ceres,” will reportedly come bundled in the retail package.
Powered by Qualcomm silicon, these glasses will reportedly run a heavily customized version of Android. Notably, Samsung is also eyeing an Android-based smart glasses product for a 2025 launch. Meta, on the other hand, is working on the ambitious Orion holographic glasses and already offers research-focused Aria Gen 2 AR glasses, as well.