Yahoo Finance Facebook & Ray-Ban to Launch 'Smart Glasses' Soon: 'They Let You Do Some Pretty Neat Things'
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These may not be the shades to wear for an unplugged beach day.
Facebook is coming out with a pair of "smart glasses" in collaboration with iconic sunglass brand Ray-Ban, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Wednesday during the company's second quarter earnings call.
"The next product release will be the launch of our first smart glasses from Ray-Ban in partnership with EssilorLuxottica," Zuckerberg, 37, told investors. "The glasses have their iconic form factor, and they let you do some pretty neat things."
Zuckerberg didn't indicate in the call what the "pretty neat things" are or when they will be on the market, but the Facebook co-founder said that the glasses "are also part of a much larger goal: to help build the metaverse."
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And what exactly is the metaverse? He said that it's a "virtual environment" that "is an embodied internet that you're inside of rather than looking at," where users can "hang out, play games with friends, work, create and more."
EssilorLuxottica, the Paris-based manufacturer of Ray-Bans, did not immediately reply to PEOPLE's request for more details.
In 2020, Facebook said the glasses won't be classified as an Augmented Reality (AR) device or feature an integrated display, according to The Verge.
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Facebook's high-tech sunglasses have been rumored since 2019, when CNBC reported that Facebook was working with EssilorLuxottica on AR eyewear nicknamed "Orion" that would be a substitute for phones, Engadget reported.
Beyond thrilled to finally share a sneak peek of our Facebook partnership with Ray-Ban! Our first smart glasses will launch next year, and that’s just the beginning… The future will be a classic and it's coming in 2021 😎 pic.twitter.com/l9992ZQGoy
— Hugo Barra (@hbarra) September 16, 2020
Last year, Hugo Barra, the former vice president of virtual reality at Facebook Reality Labs, said in a tweet that the glasses would be "a classic" available in 2021.
