Even with onboard AI, Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses aren’t as smart as they could be, since the glasses lack any sort of display for doing simple tasks, like reading incoming messages. Now, a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman maintains Meta is not only looking to expand its line of smart glasses with the inclusion of a sportier model this year, but also a high-end model that includes a built-in display.

According to sources familiar with the situation, the report maintains that Oakley-branded smart glasses designed for athletes are set to launch this year. Additionally, Meta’s Reality Labs is reportedly preparing to release a new pair of high-end smart glasses featuring a built-in display, targeted for a 2025 debut.

Reportedly codenamed ‘Hypernova’, the high-end smart glasses will again be built in collaboration with EssilorLuxottica, the French-Italian creator of a host of eyewear brands, including Ray-Ban, Oakley, and Persol.

It’s also reportedly expected to cost around $1,000—a fair sight beyond the current model of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, which start at $300.

Meta’s Orion AR Glasses Prototype | Image courtesy Meta

The report also makes mention of touch-sensitive frames or wrist strap controls as input methods, the latter of which was shown off with Meta’s Orion AR glasses prototype.

Provided reported details are true, the effort represents Meta’s next step in creating all-day AR glasses. Unlike Orion however, Hypernova is said to include a “small display,” according to a Financial Times report from December, which would likely to be used to show notifications or responses from Meta’s virtual assistant—not the sort of full-featured, stereo depth overlay expected from AR glasses.

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If you wan to learn more about the differences between AR glasses and smart glasses, check out our handy primer.

Meta’s rumored next-gen smart glasses also represents a heating up of the segment. It was reported in December that Samsung would be unveiling its own smart glasses this month to rival Ray-Ban Meta.

The potential Samsung smart glasses reveal is rumored to take place at its January 22nd Unpacked 2025 event, where the South Korean tech giant is also expected to officially announce its line of Galaxy S25 smartphones.

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Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Stephen Bard

    Why would anyone pay $1000 for AR glasses with a tiny display in one lens?

    • John Doe

      There are people buying 6 years old valve index for the same full launch price.

      Hopefully there are hundreds of reasons to buy these, but it's not like anyone else is offering anything of value. With Meta, I'm confident enough they will be the first to nail them for 1st Gen.

    • Christian Schildwaechter

      Because they can provide extra value for people while at the same time allowing them to continue to do the things they usually (want to) do. They can add something without first taking something else away. Obviously those that want their environment to be taken away and replaced with an immersive VR world aren't the target group for smartglasses with tiny, non-obstructive displays.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Tell that to Vuzix which have been doing it for years. People seem to forget about Vuzix (which is a continuation of the Forte company which made the awesome VFX1 VR headset back in '95).

    • STL

      There is Even Realities G1. Get a look. I very much like the ultra-light design and would buy one if the software would be better. For instance the translation service is not what I expect.

  • Christian Schildwaechter

    TL;DR: Meta got a lucky break with their Ray-Ban smartglasses that regular users actually buy, so they are going to push these to reach the mass market that ignores Quest, hoping to merge both in a pretty far of future.

    Provided reported details are true, the effort represents Meta’s next step in creating all-day AR glasses

    Not really. I don't remember the exact quote, but just a few days ago Mark Zuckerberg commented on Meta's smartglasses as one of the company's main focus for the next years, paired with AI, and that they hope to one day merge them with AR glasses. For the time being, these are very different products.

    One important part missing in the Road to VR primer on smartglasses vs AR glasses/HMDs is that a lot of the functionality of smartglasses is cloud driven, which is the only way they can even approach day long usage. Even Meta's Orion allows for only a few hours of use (two?) despite being ultra low power with a simplified data transfer to its compute module, as for example streaming the image like with Quest and PCVR would pretty much instantly kill the tiny battery.

    In the same statement Zuckerberg expressed his surprise how useful smartglasses turned out to be even without displays. So the way forward looks more like the opposite direction of AR glasses, which will need to be more powerful than current VR/MR HMDs: small head worn devices targeting simple assistant services that largely rely on AI in one of Meta's data centers, cut down as much as possible to get accepted by consumers. And it kind of worked, Meta pretty much sold the Ray-Ban smartglasses as fast as they could produce them. The form factor similar to sunglasses had a lot to do with that, and according to rumors EssilorLuxottica refused to allow Meta to use the Ray-Ban name for the clunkier smartglasses with displays. Not sure if they later came around, or if that's why Hypernova will be released under the Oakley brand for bulkier sports glasses.

    It seems more likely that Meta will extend the MR functions in Quest with significant local compute power towards AR, still targeting a more niche audience, and in parallel release a series of smartglasses that prioritize form factor, low weight and mass market acceptance over features, achieved by heavily relying on cloud AI. Both product lines will no doubt benefit from each other, but just based on the current state of SoC power, battery tech and AR displays, probably can't be merged for at least another decade.

    And given the reluctant acceptance of VR and the advantage Google and Apple now have with their app stores/flat apps to transition smartphone to XR users, smartglasses plus AI may indeed be Meta's best bet to quickly reach a sufficiently large audience on which to base their own future mobile platform, that only later gets XR functionality from the side compared to Quest that tried to start with XR.

  • mirak

    won't buy fascists car or fascists glasses xD

    • Christian Schildwaechter

      Unlike Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai didn't declare fact checking to be censorship, didn't diss the EU for demanding accountability, and didn't announce to from now on force aggravating political content down everybody's throat in the name of engagement. But the Google CEO still participated in Trump's inauguration just like Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos.

      So I assume your next headset will be either from Apple or Pico. Or Apple only, if ByteDance is forced to agree to sell 50% of the US branch of TikTok to Musk. Luckily we now seem to get more HMD options from Shiftall/Pimax/Play for Dream that no doubt will all be produced by saints and not require any moral compromise.

      • mirak

        I will ride that wireless HTC Vive pro with Valve Index Controllers when I need them, as long there is not something that make me lose OLED or wireless.

        At least not having a huge resolution makes it easier on the GPU.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Please keep your politics out of here.

      • mirak

        Consequence of them tainting their business with politics.

  • "The potential Samsung smart glasses reveal is rumored to take place at its January 22nd"
    I mean, that day was yesterday…

  • mirak

    Musk nazi salute is what you call national pride ?

    • kool

      Dude truck commercials stay dog whistleing talking about hard work and real America Nazi is short for national socialist party you should also avoid buying a Porsche, shell toes, Fanta or luvbug.

  • 789enES

    Meta and Samsung are falling behind here. I have AR glasses on right now with the Even G1b. Plus they are in 3d binocular, which Meta isn't even promising yet. HUD is the obvious need here, and having an open source community for apps is something these companies wont even offer..

  • mirak

    God doesn't exists