According to The Verge, Meta has discussed its newest augmented and virtual reality hardware roadmap with staff and plans to ship its first full-fledged AR glasses in 2027. While the business plans to produce various AR glasses before then, the item that will be released in four years is the same one that Mark Zuckerberg believes would be Meta’s “iPhone moment.” That is, he believes it has the potential to shake up the business and become as popular as the iPhone.
The glasses, which are predicted to be fairly pricey, will purportedly be able to show avatars as high-quality holograms superimposed on top of the actual environment. Workers will be the first to test the gadget in 2024 before it is released to the public as part of Meta’s “Innovation” line of sophisticated smart glasses for early adopters.
According to The Verge, the firm also revealed the various AR and VR gadgets it plans to release before its full-fledged AR glasses are available. It will reportedly release a sequel to Ray-Ban Stories, which it produced in collaboration with Luxottica, this fall. The Quest 3 headset, which is predicted to be twice as small and as powerful as the Quest 2, will also be released later this year. Meta also hopes to release a VR headset codenamed “Ventura” in 2024, with the goal of selling it “at the most appealing pricing point in the VR consumer market.”
Meta intends to unveil the third-generation Ray-Ban Stories a year later, in 2025. It will have a “viewfinder” display that will allow users to view incoming texts, scan QR codes, and translate messages to different languages in real-time. The glasses will apparently be controlled by hand gestures, and users can eventually enter messages using a virtual keyboard. Meta is also working on a wristwatch to complement these spectacles.
In the next years, other major technology companies besides Meta also want to release AR and VR glasses and headsets. Apple is expected to be introducing its long-awaited mixed reality headset at WWDC in June. It’s rumoured to contain sophisticated features like twin 4K monitors and controller-free input, and it might cost up to $3,000. According to rumours, Apple is working on a less expensive version that more people will be able to purchase.
