Following increasing interest in AR smart glasses as an emerging technology and the advancement of mobile computing from the hand to the eye, Meta is helping lead the charge from a consumer point of view with its Ray-Ban partnership, which aims to distribute AR-lite wearables to general audiences outside of XR enthusiasts.

The firm is experiencing sales success in the EU, with the Ray-Ban partnership helping to keep its Reality Labs division afloat, alongside the Quest portfolio, as the division researches immersive solutions.

Following its current wave of success, Indin eyewear brand Titan Eye+ is working to scale the distribution of the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses across the region, including 50+ select stores nationwide.

“We are delighted to introduce the Ray-Ban Meta AI Smart Glasses to the Indian market,” remarked N S Raghavan, the CEO of the Eyecare Division at Titan Company.

Raghavan also added:

As pioneers in smart eyewear, it has always been our priority to bring globally renowned brands to our consumers. This launch significantly enhances our smart eyewear portfolio, enabling us to cater effectively to new-age customers who value the seamless integration of technology and fashion.

More on International Meta Ray Ban Success

The partnership between Meta and Ray-Ban is proving to be a valuable asset. The recent Q3 2024 earnings call from EssilorLuxottica, Ray-Ban’s parent company, revealed that 60% of Ray-Ban stores in EU regions are marking the smart glasses as best-sellers. The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have recently received a long-awaited AI upgrade in the UK.

The device continues to gain popularity as the market grows. However, during Meta Connect 2024, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a prototype for the highly anticipated Orion device, an experimental pair of AR smart glasses. This demonstrates Meta’s short—and long-term investment plans in the development of its AR smart glasses division.

Meta is clearly focused on maintaining its control over the XR market. It is particularly interested in AR smart glasses, a sector in which it is experiencing significant success thanks to its collaboration with Ray-Ban.

During a recent earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg emphasised the importance of the Meta smart glasses initiative:

Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses have tripled in sales in the last year and people who have them are using them a lot. We’ve got some exciting new launches with our partner EssilorLuxottica later this year as well that should expand that category and add some new technological capabilities to the glasses.

Despite Meta’s success and optimism, CFO Susan Li noted challenges within the Meta Reality Labs segment: “Q1 revenue was $412 million, down 6% year-over-year due to lower Meta Quest sales, which were partially offset by increased sales of Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses.”

Li also noted that Reality Labs expenses were $4.6 billion, “up 8% year-over-year, driven primarily by higher employee compensation.” Meanwhile, Reality Labs’ operating loss came in at $4.2 billion; historically, the Reality Labs segment loses money, but this appears to be a long-term investment in the future of computing and Meta’s innovation goals.

Li added:

Moving to Reality Labs. We’re seeing very strong traction with Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses, with over 4x as many monthly actives as a year ago, and the number of people using voice commands is growing even faster as people use it to answer questions and control their glasses. This month, we fully rolled out live translations on Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses to all markets for English, French, Italian, and Spanish. Now, when you are speaking to someone in one of these languages, you’ll hear what they say in your preferred language through the glasses in real time.