Meta’s smart glasses with a screen again tipt for 2025 launch They are expected to land in October and cost over $ 1,000 / £ 1,000 / AU $ 1,500 Apple is also working on smart glasses according to rumors but they are still some time from launch
Meta’s incoming AR-Smarte glasses could eventually face an apple-made rival with Apple Intelligence, according to new rumors. The details add credibility to other rumors we have previously heard and hinted at a large AR glasses in the coming decade – although it is a fight Meta has a big capital right now.
The information comes via Mark Gurman’s latest Poweron newsletter (behind a Paywall), describing some insider reports on what the two companies seem to be working on.
Gurman’s comments support a few details we’ve heard of Meta’s upcoming glasses in the past. They will be smart glasses like its existing ray-bans, but will also have a display, they will be expensive (we’re talking over $ 1,000 / £ 1,000 / AU $ 1,500), and Meta is targeted at a release in October 2025 (which is when it usually releases new quest and smart glass hardware).
However, Meta risks slipping from this target date. Gurman adds that “top executives on the team” have reportedly asked their staff to pick up the pace – and in some cases employees may work through their upcoming weekends to achieve Meta’s goals.
Apple Glasses Incoming (Image Credit: Shutterstock / Girts Ragelis)
There is no word about when the glasses may be released if they miss out on their October period – we hope they will fall this page of 2025 rather than 2026, although their release date will ideally arrive without any excessive crunchy meta’s employees.
We have also heard the first signs of some potential pressure from Apple’s first smart glasses – the codename N50.
Based on how Gurman describes them (“an Apple Intelligence device” that can “analyze the surrounding environment and FOOD INFORMATION to the wearer” but stops shortly after proper scars) sounds like what Meta has and is working on in the smart glasses.
The problem? Apparently a launch is still some time away.
Gurman is not specific to when a launch can follow, but with Meta, Snap and now Google and Samsung (via Android XR) that gets involved in the smart glasses, it feels seriously like Apple gives everyone a big capital.
(Image Credit: Meta)
Analysis: Will Apple be late or right on time?
Given its success with Apple Watch and AirPods from both a portability and fashion point of view (the two key areas that smart glasses need to succeed), Apple has the potential to catch up.
However, if its non-ar-glass glasses are launched in 2027, which can coincide with when Meta launches full-on AR specifications, according to leaked development time plans, means Apple’s rival risks being dated out of the gate. Then again, Apple’s delayed release only matters if meta, Android XR, Snap and others can benefit from it.
These other scars may be out in the wild before, but if they are expensive and lack innovative applications, they probably won’t be super popular. This can be especially a problem for Meta’s upcoming XR specifications, as the existing Meta Ray-Ban Smart Specs are already large and only continue to get better thanks to software updates.
(Image Credit: Jason Redmond / Ted)
A display would be a significant improvement, determined, but it does not yet seem like an important icing when you consider the display-free specifications start at just $ 299 / £ 299 / AU $ 449 and is already the best AI laptop around.
On the other hand, if the upcoming meta and Google XR glasses can match even half of the cool uses I experienced on the Snap glasses under my demo, then they have the potential to take people’s perception of XR technology to new heights. It would be an exciting view and a high price seems significantly more justifiable.
We just have to wait and see what Meta, Apple and Google have up their sleeves if and when their next general XR glasses finally release to the public.
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