A previous report claimed that Meta is preparing to show off prototype AR devices at the company’s upcoming Connect developer conference in September, which has so far been under wraps. Now Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he’s “almost ready” to reveal a pair “unmistakably [AR] glasses.”
Update (July 2, 2024): Zuckerberg sat down with Kane ‘Kallaway’ Sutter in a recent video interview where he revealed that the company’s prototype AR glasses are almost ready to be unveiled to the public.
“Glasses, I think, are going to be a big deal,” Zuckerberg said. “We are almost ready to start showing the prototype version of the full holographic glasses. We will not sell it widely; we are focused on building the full consumer version rather than selling the prototype.”
Zuckerberg noted that early testers were left with “a giddy reaction” when demoing the device, which is actually set up as glasses rather than a headset like the HoloLens 2 or Quest 3:
The prototype version “is not the most elegant thing, but […] it’s definitely glasses, not headphones,” Zuckerberg confirmed.
The original article detailing the previous report follows below:
Original (March 5, 2024): A report from Business Insider claims that Meta’s AR team has been tapped to get its ‘Orion’ AR glasses ready for unveiling at Connect 2024, which usually happens in October. The report cites two people familiar with the matter, whose identities were confirmed by Business Insider.
Orion has been in development for the past nine years, however there is now said to be “internal pressure to ensure a high level of performance” on the Connect, which the company regularly uses not only to unveil new products, such as the Quest 3, but also for research. projects and prototypes like Project Aria, which when unveiled in 2020 showcased a set of sensors the company was using to train its AR perception systems and gauge public perception of the technology.
It’s uncertain whether Orion and Project Nazare are one and the same, which Meta teased in 2021, saying it would be the company’s “first fully augmented reality glasses.” At the time, Meta CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg described how difficult it would be:
“There is a lot of technical work to fix this form and experience. We need to put hologram screens, projectors, batteries, radios, custom silicon chips, cameras, speakers, sensors to map the world around you, and more into glasses that are about 5mm thick. So we still have a ways to go with Nazare, but we’re making good progress,” Zuckerberg said.
Speaking of threshold Late last year, Meta CTO and Reality Labs boss Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth described the company’s AR glasses as being built on an “incredibly expensive technology path.”
Notably, these are set to be ‘real’ AR glasses, and not HUD-based smart glasses like Google Glass, or a mixed reality headset like the company’s Quest line. Find out more about the difference between AR and smart glasses in our handy primer.
According to Business Insiderit’s expected that a consumer version of the AR glasses won’t be ready for several years, as previous reports say it could come in 2027.
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