The company is planning to introduce higher-end glasses with a display to view notifications and the camera view finder later this year, Bloomberg News has reported. In 2027, it aims to roll out its first true augmented reality glasses, which will blend digital apps with the real world.
Meta’s form factor has caught on, with several other technology companies working on competitors. Apple is planning to introduce its first glasses product at the end of 2026, Bloomberg News has reported. That device will operate similarly to the Meta product but better synchronise with the rest of the Apple ecosystem. Amazon.com also sells glasses, but their current models lack cameras.
Himel, who said Meta has sold millions of glasses and has a “nice, increasing multiple” of purchases on a year-over-year basis each week, attributed the increased popularity to the Ray-Bans improving across a large number of “small things”. He said the audio quality and microphones started to surpass standalone earbuds, while the camera and AI quality also improved.
Still, Himel said battery life remains the “number one complaint” about the Ray-Ban versions. The new Oakley models can run for eight hours on a single charge, with the charging case holding 48 hours of juice. “You should expect a 40 per cent bump with these”, he said, attributing the improvement to new battery chemistry and software optimisations, not larger battery packs.
Like Ray-Ban, Oakley is owned by EssilorLuxottica, which calls Oakley its second most popular brand after Ray-Ban. Himel said Meta will roll out new brands under the EssilorLuxottica portfolio as fast as we can.
“We are going to have to move very quickly because in the world of fashion, stuff moves very quickly,” he said. “The stuff that is a hit right now might not be a year from now. We need to be fast to hit all the brands that we’d like to.”
The first Oakley model, becoming available for pre-order on Jul 11, will be the US$499 limited edition pair. The US$399 versions – which come in grey, black, brown and clear colours – will be released in the coming months. There will be versions with clear, transition and polarised lenses. Like with the Ray-Bans, users can swap the lenses for prescription optics.
The glasses will be available in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark, according to Meta. BLOOMBERG
