‘We have the opportunity to turn a pair of glasses into the leading technology platform of the future and make it both desirable and fashionable.’ This is how Mark Zuckerberg commented on the partnership between Meta and EssilorLuxottica, who, after starting to collaborate in 2019, have renewed the agreement for another ten years. A timeframe within which the two companies goal is to spread smart glasses and make glasses a tool that combines technology and fashion. The ambitions are supported by what has been done so far, with Ray-Ban Stories becoming an interesting tool for looking at the world and telling what is happening in real-time because they are different and still little known to the general public. Although the privacy issue should not be underestimated, because even from personal experience, I can say that when you start recording with Meta’s glasses, most people don’t notice.

The first step in a long process

The second generation of smart glasses was launched in 2023 in strategic markets, such as the US, Australia and the UK, but also in Europe, starting with Italy and France, the fashionable countries where EssilorLuxottica headquarters and laboratories are based. Although they are still a niche product, the success and interest won by Ray-Ban Stories depends on their ability to broaden the user experience and the potential of an accessory that for decades remained tied only to the style and aesthetic taste of the customer. That sunglasses have to be beautiful is unquestionable, but by joining forces, Meta and EssilorLuxottica have brought functions and possibilities that open up new frontiers for glasses.

Being able to make and receive calls, listen to music, take photos and videos, including live streaming has put glasses on the same level as smartphones and other consumer technology devices for the first time. ‘Although it is still just the beginning, the work done with Meta has been an important milestone in making glasses the gateway to an increasingly connected world,’ said Francesco Milleri, president and CEO of EssilorLuxottica.

Glasses complement the smartphone

In addition to increasing interest in and sales of the future Ray-Ban Stories, the partnership between two giants in their respective sectors creates the conditions for a quantum leap to be developed around generative artificial intelligence. Technology that can expand activities and thus make glasses emerge as an all-around tech product. With the current display integrated into the lenses, on which content relating to maps, notifications, and clips already appears, it will be possible to add useful functions to lighten certain tasks and obtain information that, up to now, we only see on our smartphones.

I do not believe that the sunglasses of Meta or of other big tech giants (such as Google, tempted to return to the sector after the flop of the Google Glasses, now limited to specific areas of use in professional environments, such as healthcare and construction) can replace phones, especially in the short term. They can broaden and strengthen the connection already started by Ray-Ban Stories, Snap’s Spectacles and Bose Frames.

The models of the future

Imagining what the directions followed by EssilorLuxottica and Meta could be to create the glasses of the future, going beyond the development of smart glasses, one cannot disregard GenAI, which, through voice commands or manual gestures, could facilitate a series of daily activities, differentiating itself from the functions that characterise smartphones, so as not to suffer the duel but to emerge as a complementary accessory to the phone.

The other front concerns the combination of sight and hearing, with products that can correct both defects and thus significantly improve the lives of people suffering from these disorders. Nuance Audio is the appetiser for what is to come later, with glasses increasingly becoming an aid against eye and hearing discomfort and disorders.