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Meta announces the $299 Meta Glasses. They’re not Ray-Bans, but feature an updated AI, adjustable nosepads and temple tips, and a model designed by Kylie Jenner.
They’re also $80 cheaper, and Alex Himel, Meta’s VP of wearables, says privacy improvements are on the way.
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For the past three years, “Meta” and “Ray-Ban” have been synonymous in the smart glasses space. Not anymore. Yesterday, I slipped on several pairs of Meta Glasses — no Ray-Bans — in three different styles and seven colors. One style, I was told several times by various enthusiastic Meta spokespeople, is a collaboration with socialite and reality TV star Kylie Jenner.
Meta could’ve struck out on its own from the get-go, but teaming up with EssilorLuxottica and the Ray-Ban brand was a savvy move in entering the smart glasses space. Previous smart glasses looked straight out of a sci-fi flick, or were just dorky enough to be unappealing. Ray-Ban lending its iconic silhouettes, name recognition, and cultural cachet helped give Meta’s glasses an air of legitimacy. The fact that these smart glasses truly looked like ordinary glasses you wouldn’t be ashamed of wearing was a simple but inspired design choice. However, the glasses’ biggest hurdle may be their attachment to Meta and its history of privacy scandals. In recent weeks, both The New York Times and Wired have reported that the company is actively building a facial recognition feature for its smart glasses.
A conspiracy theorist might wonder if removing the Ray-Ban branding is an attempt by EssilorLuxottica to distance itself from Meta. Not quite. If you peer at the inside temple of the new Meta Fury, Meta Adventurer, and Meta Glasses by Kylie, they all have EssilorLuxottica’s name stamped on the inside. (Albeit in tiny font that’s hard to read in dim lighting.) EssilorLuxottica helped with designing these glasses, as well as the nuts and bolts that go into making and eventually shipping them. According to Meta executives, there’s one big reason for dropping Ray-Ban: price. The Meta Glasses start at $299, which is about $80 cheaper than the starting price for the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2.
“We just feel like we need to have a pair of glasses at a lower price point, and we were trying to figure out what could work there. [EssilorLuxottica] do have glasses at brands that are at lower price points, but they’re not really that well known, so there wasn’t an obvious fit there,” adds Alex Himel, Meta’s vice president of wearables.