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Smart glasses are emerging as Big Tech’s next platform, propelled by more than 10mn estimated sales of Meta’s Ray-Ban devices and competing plans from Google, Samsung and Apple. The industry sees eyewear as an always-available gateway to AI, capable of seeing and hearing what users experience. That ambition is colliding with a backlash over covert recording, including videos of women filmed without their knowledge, prompting bans in some British pubs and courtrooms.

Details

• Market trajectory: Counterpoint Research estimates consumers will spend more than $1tn on wearables between 2026 and 2032, with smart glasses generating $44bn in 2032. Omdia expects annual sales to rise from 15mn units this year to 45mn by 2030, while more than 1bn smartphones are sold annually.
• Meta’s lead: Meta accounts for roughly 85 per cent of smart glasses sales. Its EssilorLuxottica partnership has delivered well above 10mn estimated sales since 2021, including more than 7mn last year. EssilorLuxottica said quarterly AI-glasses revenue almost doubled year on year.
• Ray-Ban advantage: The partnership combined Meta’s technology with Ray-Ban’s brand and EssilorLuxottica’s retail network. The eyewear group resisted components that would make the glasses heavier. Users mainly listen to music and take hands-free photographs while parenting or playing sports, rather than converse with AI.
• Sensitive prototypes: Meta is testing “super sensing” glasses designed to collect audio continuously and take photographs every few seconds as an AI-powered memory aid. Code for an unreleased facial-recognition system was found in its platform before removal. Meta says it has no interest in offering recognition of any person worldwide.
• Abuse response: Meta is moving to ban accounts posting footage of women secretly recorded through smart glasses. It updated the devices to disable cameras when attempts to obstruct the recording indicator are detected. EssilorLuxottica says privacy has been considered since the design stage and it is working to establish appropriate standards.
• Revenue challenge: EssilorLuxottica books much of the partnership’s revenue because each company recognises sales through its own channels. Meta is pursuing paid AI subscriptions and third-party applications, but paused charges for extended use of a voice-amplification feature after objections to placing a previously free capability behind a paywall.

Background

Google Glass failed a decade ago amid privacy objections, limited usability and a higher price. Meta and Apple continue investing in sophisticated augmented-reality glasses, but cost and technical barriers leave mass adoption several years away. Some industry executives cite slow, inconsistent AI functions that send users back to their phones.

What’s next

Google and Samsung are working with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster on AI glasses due later this year. Apple’s design could arrive next year. These launches, sales growth and paid AI adoption will test whether eyewear can become a mass-market computing platform.