Meta Orion, ‘True’ AR Smart Glasses Could Reportedly Be Revealed Later in 2024

Meta is reportedly working on a new pair of smart glasses, and these could offer a true augmented reality (AR) experience. As per a report, Meta Orion true AR smart glasses are in advanced stages of development and could be unveiled and demoed at the company's annual Connect event for developers. This device is said to be separate from its Ray-Ban smart glasses. In certain functionality and form-factor, it might be similar to Brilliant Lab's Frame AI Glasses, which was unveiled earlier this month.

According to a report by Business Insider, Meta's true AR glasses project is called Orion, and it could also be the name of the product. Citing unnamed sources, the report claimed that the company's AR team was being pushed to get the smart glasses ready in time for the Meta Connect event so that “a high level” of performance could be demoed. However, it was also said that the wearable device is unlikely to go on sale this year even after being demo-ready with an advanced prototype. The demo aims to create excitement for the product and the tech giant's capabilities and gauge the reaction of people to determine product market fit.

Separately, a report by The Verge has claimed that Meta's first true AR glasses will only be launched in 2027. The report found the company's roadmap presentation for AR and VR devices. A possible reason for the delay could be that the technology itself is not ready. At the moment, no other details about Orion smart glasses are known. However, it is not likely to be similar to the company's Ray-Ban smart glasses which have no display features. Meta Quest series comes closest to what enthusiasts should expect, however, the headset is virtual reality (VR) focused and has only some AR experiences included.

True AR smart glasses would instead be closer to the Apple Vision Pro or Frame AI Glasses, which will superimpose elements from a digital display into the real world. The Frame AI Glasses weigh under 40g and feature two layers of lenses, with the outer being an augmented reality (AR) lens and the inner being an optional space to attach a prescription lens. The display in the device is a micro-OLED panel and the entire setup uses magnets to fit components.

Coming to its features, the Frame AI glasses have visual recognition capabilities and can offer descriptions of the objects visible on the lens. It can also translate text in real-time, show nutrition details of food products, do live web searches, and even generate images and place them in real-world conditions using the AR lens. The company has said that the visual analysis feature and live translation are powered by OpenAI's AI models, and Perplexity AI enables live web search.