According to Business Insider, multiple anonymous sources have revealed that Meta's AR team is intensively developing this high-tech eyewear for its annual Connect conference for third-party developers.

This eyewear is internally referred to as "Orion" and is different from the recently launched Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and Meta Quest headsets. Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses do not have AR functionality, while Quest headsets are primarily used for VR gaming and mixed reality experiences.

Meta's Reality Labs division, responsible for AR, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and all projects related to the metaverse, has been working on the Orion project for several years.

The Reality Labs division, originally known as Oculus VR, is a department of Meta Platforms dedicated to creating virtual reality and augmented reality hardware and software. This includes producing Quest headsets and developing online platforms like Horizon Worlds. Earlier this month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a photo on Threads showing what he called a prototype of the glasses on his desk.

Business Insider reports that sources have told them that the frames shown in the photo are much thicker than the existing Meta smart glasses.

In 2023, Meta unveiled its roadmap to release AR glasses in 2027. Before that, we may see the third generation of Ray-Ban smart glasses with a "neural interface band" as an input device in 2025.

Other AR glasses are also in development

Samsung has also entered this market, recently obtaining a trademark for "Samsung Glasses" in the UK, covering categories such as augmented reality headsets, smart glasses, and virtual reality headsets.

Meanwhile, Apple's first headset, Vision Pro, released this year, has been struggling with low sales. The entry-level price for this new device is $3,499, which poses a challenge to its sales volume and may make it a niche product. Research has found that the manufacturing cost of Vision Pro is much higher than the retail price of many other similar wearable devices.