Just this week, Meta made the announcement that they are releasing Orion, their latest AR glasses to internal developers and a selective audience.  And the week before, Snap launched the latest version of their Spectacles to developers. 

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So, what’s happening? 

 

At a strategic level, Meta and Snap are betting huge not just on AR but that glasses will be the next medium to drive adoption and engagement of their platforms. Similar to the shift from desktop to mobile, which Meta benefited from, these players believe that social media, social commerce and interactions will take place in a more immersive environment that fuses real with virtual, 2D with 3D and provides an even more “on” digital experience - in Zuckerberg’s words the "next frontier in connecting people". Where as your phone is by your side, it’s not worn like a pair of glasses. It does not have the same always on availability that glasses offer. Nor it cannot offer the sensory depth, and immersive capability that comes with a visual device such as glasses. This is the big hardware bet - to make glasses that could become the next “mobile” connected device.  ​

Both Meta’s Orion and Snap’s Spectacles are not yet available to purchase. They are development prototypes available to developers and select early adopters. In the case of Meta, this is internal and in the case of Snap these are external engineers. This in itself tells us how both companies are assessing the readiness of the technology - its not consumer friendly yet.

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Mark Zuckerberg, CEO Meta, explaining Orion at Meta Connect 2024 September 25-26

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So, what can they do? And how do they compare? 

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They can do a huge variety of things. In the case of Meta’s Orion, this is everything from multitasking windows from a computer desktop, to projecting virtual, giant video screens for watching immersive movies at home, and even holograms of people. These apps come with 3D graphics. This all blends "seamlessly" with your view of the physical world.  Meta’s glasses also come with voice tracking, hand gesture recognition and a bracelet. This is similar to Apple’s Vision Pro headset but without the bulky chunky headset and exclusive focus on virtual reality rather than mixed reality.  ​​​​​​​

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Facebook Orion & Snap Spectacles September 2024

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Snap’s Spectacles offer similar functionality - an ability to see apps, objects in 3D, superimposed and mixed with the real world that you can see.  With both Meta and Snap, you can maintain a conversation, maintain eye contact with your friends and family whilst controlling any apps via hand and voice gestures powered by AI. 

Orion is in many ways similar to the Apple Vision Pro headset--a device Apple calls a "spatial computer" that projects a view of all sorts of different apps, some with 3D graphics, onto the wearer's world view. But while Vision Pro is a real, if bulky and hugely expensive, commercial product, Orion is much smaller and discreet, and looks more like a product people could one day wear when walking down the street. 

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The differences - the aesthetics of the glasses are noticeable with Meta able to get closer to a normal sized pair of glasses. Snap look like beefed up 3D glasses. Meta also has a 70-degree field-of-view, which is significantly wider than that of any other pair currently in the market. Snap’s new AR Spectacles have a 47-degree field of view with the impact that you do not have the same immersion and are turning your head more. 

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So, what’s next?  

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Both Meta and Snap are likely to double down on the barriers to adoption. There are 5 that spring to mind:  

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Price: Meta’s Orion glasses are not available to purchase but are estimated to cost $10,000! Snap’s Spectacles are currently available to AR developers willing to pay $2400 for two years of access to the hardware via a subscription plan. The goal is to sell these glasses at the price of a mobile device - ~$1,000. 
User Experience: streamlining the design to make less obtrusive, and lightweight. 
Content: facilitate apps, 3rd party development and content (as the case with Android & iOS) to encourage user interest.  
Battery life: Battery life is low. Snap's glasses last 45mins. The goal has to be mobile like battery - 8-10 hours!  
Privacy: With users likely to worry about data privacy, Meta and Snap will need to think through how they will reassure, delete, destroy and ultimately empower and protect users’ data. 

 

​Whilst these glasses show there’s still a lot of work to be done to become truly consumer friendly and adoptable, there is an undoubted acceleration.  We are seeing a big jump forward. 

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AR wearables are getting there! 

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That’s all for this week. ​

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