Meta launches own-brand of smart glasses
Meta has announced a new range of smart glasses under its own brand (without Ray-Ban or Oakley). The glasses are still created in partnership with EssilorLuxottica (owner of Ray-Ban, etc brand) and will be available in a variety of colors and lens combinations from day one. Priced at $299, these Meta Glasses do not have a screen, but Meta is looking at expanding the voice capabilities, with plans to add a “Pedestrian navigation” feature soon.
While the brand is now Meta, there is still some celebrity pull: one of the three shapes is named “Meta Glasses by Kylie” with a slim oval frame designed in collaboration with Kylie Jenner.
The Circana Take:
- Meta continues to dominate the smart glasses market and these slightly lower-priced models will help to expand the market. Further, by creating its own brand (as opposed to Ray-Ban) the glasses will appeal to a different segment of the consumer market – particularly with the Kylie Jenner collaboration.
- We continue to believe that screenless smart glasses are the smartest move: less battery drain, less tech in the frames (and therefore less weight). By adding features such as pedestrian navigation, Meta is finding ways to skip the need for a screen.
- At the risk of sounding like a broken record (a phrase that certainly ages me), Meta needs to expand beyond the glasses to cement the need for Meta AI. Smart speakers for the home are the obvious next step so that when the glasses are removed, the Meta AI interface continues to be omnipresent for the consumer.
Watch OS 27 has an upgrade problem
A few weeks ago at WWDC, Apple announced the latest upgrade to its smartwatch OS. However, the new OS will only be available on five smartwatch models: SE 3, Series 10 and 11 and Ultra 2 and 3. With that cut-off point, the Series 9, which came out relatively recently (2023) cannot be upgraded, although Engadget claims that it will be supported. If true, then the cut-off point will be 2022, when the original Ultra and SE 2 launched.
The Circana Take:
- There is always a compromise between what a new OS could include, and the underlying hardware requirements. With smartphones, the lifespan is typically longer (7 or 8 years) but what I suspect we are seeing is a shorter lifespan due to the comprises required to squeeze all the hardware into a small watch form factor. In addition, this shorter cut off is a sign of how quickly the capabilities of smartwatches continues to evolve.
- In fairness, four years is a fairly good life for a smartwatch, but we do still see a significant number of Apple Watch owners using older models. The big question will be: does this move drive consumers to upgrade, or abandon their watch?
Snaaaaaaap!
Snap finally unveiled its long-awaited smart glasses at AWE (Augmented World Expo). The device – the first new smart glasses from Snap in seven years – and the price is an eye-watering $2,195. But it should be made clear that these are far different from Meta Glasses and the like. Rather, in many ways they should be compared to Apple’s Vision Pro. The Snap Specs run two Snapdragon processors, and all processing takes place on the glasses, rather than via a puck attachment. The device can be used for everything from watching shows and playing games to contextual AI (i.e., look at an object and Specs can pull up information about it).
The Circana Take:
- The price. This is a niche product that may be conceptually great, but will not appeal to a significant consumer market at this price.
- The form factor. As with any smart glass implementation that tries to do too much, there is a significant compromise on size and weight. No one is going to confuse these for ordinary sunglasses.
- The use case. Is there really one (considering the two points above)? We suspect not. Technologically pretty cool but to be seen wearing them? Definitely not cool…