Meta has officially teased a 'full' pair of augmented reality smart glasses as part of a new blog post celebrating a decade of its Reality Labs division.
The company used the 10th anniversary as an excuse to look back on the original Oculus Rift, the evolution to its current Meta Quest Pro, and also the recent arrival of its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
However, it also snuck in a fairly detailed hint at the immediate hardware project for Reality Labs - a true pair of AR glasses.
"While Quest 3 offers compelling mixed reality experiences, from fully immersive to those that let you interact with the physical world and digital content in tandem, and Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses give you access to the utility and entertainment of Meta AI, AR glasses will deliver the best of both worlds as these two technological paths converge," the blog post reads.
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It goes on to confirm that a "new kind of computing platform" is being built by Reality labs - and that the arrival of AR glasses won't signal the end of its mixed-reality headsets.
Instead, Meta says, it sees these two form factors sitting alongside each other in the world of XR.
"Just like the smartphone didn’t eliminate the laptop or desktop computer, AR glasses won’t be the end of mixed reality headsets.
"Rather, we see a constellation of devices forming the fabric of the future. We believe the smart glasses we have now, on the road to full AR glasses, are going to have much broader appeal," it continues.
When will Meta release AR glasses?
This all begs the question, then: when will Meta release these AR glasses?
No timeline has been provided in this latest blog post - just a reference to the glasses being built - though rumors have been circulating for a while about the wider project.
The Verge hinted last March that Meta is seeking to unveil glasses with a display by 2025, with a full-fledged AR effort arriving by 2027.
Meta
More recently, too, Business Insider has suggested that these true AR glasses - reportedly known internally as 'Orion' - will be unveiled at the upcoming Meta Connect conference (likely to take place in October).
As ever, we won't know for sure until Meta officially pulls back the curtain - but the signs are clear that a significant hardware release is coming sooner rather than later. For now, stay tuned.
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