GuShiio.com Article source: XR Control
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As a leading company in the global XR field, Meta’s dynamics have always attracted the attention of the global industry. Recently, Meta officials announced that the 2025 Meta Connect Conference will kick off on September 17. As Meta’s annual industry event, this year’s conference will focus on cutting-edge technology fields such as Meta Quest headsets, AI smart glasses and artificial intelligence.
Meta revealed that this conference will showcase “the latest updates to Meta Horizon”, unveiling “the veil of future technologies” for participants, and focusing on “innovative tools for XR (Extended Reality) developers.” Although the specific agenda and speakers have not yet been fully announced, Meta emphasized that this conference will be a critical moment to showcase the latest technological breakthroughs and promises to bring a series of exciting highlights.
Compared with previous years, this year’s Meta Connect announcement was released in advance, showing that Meta attaches great importance to this event. What is particularly noteworthy is that the article specifically mentions “AI glasses”, which has attracted widespread attention. Perhaps in terms of AI wearing, this year will be a bumper year for Meta.
Looking back at last year, at the Meta Connect 2024 conference, Meta released Quest 3S, demonstrated AR glasses Orion, and carried out a series of updates to Horizon OS, Horizon Worlds, Ray-Ban Meta and other software and hardware products. With the continuous emergence of new technologies, the Meta Connect conference has gradually become an important platform for the industry to pay attention to XR technology and future innovation.
At present, Meta is gaining momentum in the field of smart glasses. Specifically, in September 2023, Meta cooperated with Ray-Ban to launch the new Ray-Ban Meta AI smart glasses. It is equipped with a 12-megapixel camera, equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 Gen1 chip, built-in Meta AI, etc. This allows glasses to support the AI assistant function of Meta AI. By shouting “Hey Meta”, the assistant can be awakened to perform auxiliary functions.
Today, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have become a hot item in the global smart glasses field. Previously, third-party data showed that their sales have exceeded 1 million units. European glasses giant EssilorLuxottica (Ray-Ban parent company) revealed during its Q3 2024 earnings conference call that its Ray-Ban Meta is the best-selling product among 60% of Ray-Ban stores in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
At the same time, Meta has long been optimistic about the field of AI smart glasses. In September this year, Meta and global glasses giant EssilorLuxottica officially announced a long-term cooperation agreement. The two parties will cooperate to develop multiple generations of smart glasses products in the next ten years.
Not long ago, EssilorLuxottica CEO Francesco Milleri announced plans to expand the production of its smart glasses to meet growing market demand. The plan covers factories in China and Southeast Asia, and expects annual production of smart glasses to reach 10 million pairs by the end of next year. Millery revealed that since its release in September 2023, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have achieved significant sales results, with sales exceeding 2 million pairs.
Previously, some organizations predicted that sales of Ray Ban Meta smart glasses in 2024 are expected to reach an astonishing 2 million units. What is even more remarkable is that considering that current AI functions are limited to only a few national markets, once this technology expands to more regions around the world and supports multiple languages, its annual sales potential may jump to more than 6 million units.
What is particularly noteworthy is that Meta seems to have placed smart glasses in a very important position. Not long ago, media reported that Zuckerberg pointed out at the employee conference that 2025 will be a decisive moment for Meta’s glasses business. In order to further expand market share, Meta plans to launch Oakley brand AI glasses and smart glasses with display screens in 2025.
Not long ago, foreign media disclosed a corporate memorandum from Meta’s chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth. In the memo, Bosworth said that 2025 will be the most critical year in his eight years at Reality Labs. He emphasized that Meta currently has the strongest product portfolio on the market and plans to further consolidate this advantage by launching six AI-powered wearables.
He pointed out that Meta must promote sales, increase Retention rate and engagement in the mixed reality (MR) space, especially in the mobile breakthrough of the Horizon Worlds application, so that Meta’s long-term plans can be realized.
In fact, Meta has invested tens of billions of dollars over the past few years, which has greatly promoted the development of XR industry and AI smart glasses. On the one hand, Meta has greatly accelerated the commercialization of XR technology through its strategic layout and product innovation. With its high performance, ease of use and relatively affordable price, Meta’s Quest series of head-mounted devices lowers the threshold for consumers to enter the XR world, allowing more people to experience the charm of virtual reality firsthand. This not only stimulated public interest and enthusiasm for XR technology, but also prompted more companies and developers to invest in the development and innovation of XR content, thus promoting the rapid development of the entire XR industry.
On the other hand, Meta’s exploration in the field of smart glasses has opened up new paths for the popularization and application of AR technology. For example, in September last year, it released its first AR glasses. It is worth noting that the smart glasses launched by Meta and Ray-Ban perfectly combine fashion and technology. This cross-border cooperation not only enhances the market acceptance of smart glasses, but also provides reference for other companies.
In addition, Meta’s continuous investment in the research and development of XR technology has promoted the continuous advancement of related technologies. From sensor technology, image processing algorithms to human-computer interaction interfaces, Meta is constantly seeking breakthroughs to improve the performance and user experience of XR devices. These technological innovations not only bring competitive advantages to Meta itself, but also set a technical benchmark for the entire XR industry and promote technological progress in the entire field.
In addition, Meta has also promoted the diversified development of the XR industry through open platforms and ecosystem construction. Meta encourages developers to develop applications and content for its platform, thus enriching the application scenarios and functions of XR devices. At the same time, Meta also cooperates with other companies and research institutions to jointly promote the standardization and interoperability of XR technology, laying a solid foundation for the long-term development of the XR industry.
Finally, Meta’s globalization strategy and market layout provide a broad stage for the popularization of XR technology and smart glasses. Meta has not only achieved remarkable results in the local market, but also actively expanded partners and market channels globally to promote XR technology and smart glasses to a wider audience. This globalization strategy not only enhances Meta’s brand influence and market share, but also injects strong impetus into the rapid development of the global XR industry.
