Meta’s first AR glasses have broken cover in the form of the game-changing Orion prototype. These glasses won’t ever be available to sale, but Meta says they’re the precursor to consumer AR Glasses. And based on what we’ve seen they could be the world’s best AR glasses when they launch.
Those consumer AR glasses are likely a few years away, but thanks to Meta Connect 2024 and what Meta staff have said afterwards, we already have an idea of when non-prototype Meta Orion AR glasses might launch, how much they could cost, and what they’ll be capable of.
To make keeping track of all the latest Meta Orion information a breeze we’ve rounded up everything we know so far in this one article, and included a section at the end of the features we want to see at launch.
Meta Orion AR Glasses: Price
Technically Orion probably won’t ever go on sale; it’s a prototype that only select Meta staff, AR software developers, and those lucky enough to secure a demo will likely ever get to use, let alone own. Semantics aside, we already have an idea of how much the consumer version of Orion will cost when it launches. Unfortunately, it won’t be as cheap as Meta’s other XR tech and glasses.
When Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Orion, he also outlined three objectives Meta is aiming to achieve before the glasses get released to the public. One is to “make them more affordable” (via Meta) by using practices like building Orion at scale. When we heard “affordable” we hoped that meant somewhere in the region of the current Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses – which start at $299 / £299 / AU$449.
Alas, this has been clarified by Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth. In an Instagram AMA in he explained that the AR glasses “probably won’t get in at, like, a Quest 3S price point, or even a Quest 3 price point” – which instantly prices them over $499.99 / £469.99 / AU$1,049.99. Instead the team is aiming at the price of affordable phones and laptops – so hopefully somewhere around $700 (around £700 / AU$1,350).
This certainly makes more sense given how impressive Orion was sounding, though it does mean we might have to wait a while longer for a truly affordable model to come along. Speaking of…
Meta Orion AR Glasses: Release date
If you want to get your hands on the consumer version of Meta’s Orion AR glasses prototype then you might not be waiting too long, with Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth revealing that the release timeline is in the region of “a couple years, but not decades.”
Our bet is on a release in 2027, as this is the release schedule from an internal meta roadmap that The Verge leaked back in early 2023. Based on Meta’s usual hardware schedule we can hone in even more on a potential release date, at around late 2027 – specifically September to December 2027.
That said, with Orion still at the prototype stage, there’s a good chance it could get delayed – resulting in it not arriving for a few more years.
Meta Orion AR Glasses: Design and features
As a prototype, Orion’s design hasn’t yet been finalized, and it’s actually one of the aspects Meta has said it wants to optimize and make more fashionable before launch. However, that’s not to say we don’t have an idea what Orion’s final form might look like.
Firstly, Meta has said it wants to slim down the glasses and keep them light. Considering Orion is already just 100g we expect the consumer version will be equally light (or lighter), and hopefully a lot less chunky – though hopefully it can do so without sacrificing battery life, which currently sits at two to three hours.
We also expect that the glasses will take design cues from Ray-Ban glasses. Meta recently announced the continuation of its partnership with EssilorLuxottica (Ray-Ban’s parent company), and it tracks that Meta would want to adopt the fashionable classic Ray-Ban style for its AR glasses and not just its AI smart glasses.
Meta might need to avoid creating clear consumer Orions like it has with the existing Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. CTO Andrew Bosworth has a special clear pair of Orion glasses, but revealed that because their design necessitates a non-magnesium frame, the clear pair have significantly worse heat distribution properties. As a result, the clear pair “thermally tap-out” in about 30 minutes instead of lasting the full two to three hours.
As for features, we know Orion boasts AR and AI tools. AR-wise we’ve seen hints of the sorts of experiences it can facilitate like giving you floating windows for virtual multitasking, the ability to have AR video chats, and we imagine there will be an AR game or two at launch (here’s hoping for a fully AR Pokemon Go).
On the AI side of things, expect to see everything currently possible on the existing Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses such as Look and Ask, as well as the new photographic memory and real-time translation tools. Plus we expect several other AI tools will launch in the coming years that Orion should also possess.
Meta Orion AR Glasses: What we want to see
Transition lenses by default
For glasses wearables to take off they need to work in all weather, and the only solutions to this are high-quality transition lenses or a frame design that allows you to easily swap between clear and shaded lenses manually – lenses which would have to be separate to the AR displays.
We love the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, but the smart sunglasses aren’t usable indoors or on days when it isn’t sunny. Conversely, smart glasses with only clear lenses won’t serve you well when it is a bright day and you want to protect your eyes. As a result, the only sensible smart glasses solution will give you a wearable that can work in any weather.
AI capabilities everywhere at launch
The biggest let-down of the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses is the AI features shown off at their 2023 announcement weren’t available at launch, and still aren’t available in every region they’re sold. Without these AI tools the glasses just aren’t as impressive.
When Orion’s consumer version makes it to market Meta needs to make sure that every feature it announces for the specs is available everywhere when the AR and AI glasses release (or at least within a couple of months).
Apps, Apps, Apps
The main issue most XR hardware struggles with is not its specs, but its software. No matter how impressive the gadget might be technically it’s useful if it doesn’t do anything to justify those specs.
For Orion to be a success, Meta will need to ensure it’s well-stocked with AR software and features at launch – which is perhaps why Meta plans to give software makers Orion prototypes as dev kits to aid them in their AR app-making efforts.
A SIM card slot, and phone connectivity
Mark Zuckerberg might envision AR glasses as the evolution of smartphones, and so it would be neat to see them able to access a network completely independently of your smartphone – like an LTE smartwatch – but we’d like the Meta Orion glasses to play nice with phones too.
This includes piggybacking off their network if you don’t want to get a second SIM, and also being able to perform actions like streaming video and audio from your phone, for when you want to swap between watching on the screen and on a heads-up display.
The latter point might seem like an obvious inclusion, but other recent AI-powered so-called smartphone replacements have taken measures to separate themselves from smartphones, much to their detriment. Smart glasses might replace phones one day, but for now they’ll gain a heck of a lot by working with smartphones, rather than against them.
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hamish.hector@futurenet.com (Hamish Hector)
