Ray-Ban Smart Glasses Expectations Doused By Facebook CFO

Facebook CFO David Wehner spoke this week about new smart glasses that are expected to launch later this year in collaboration with Ray-Ban and Luxottica. This isn't the first time we've heard of said glasses – but it is the first time anyone from Facebook has suggested the glasses will be anything less than extraordinary. Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference today, Wehner pointed to Facebook's future in augmented reality technology.

According to Wehner, augmented and virtual reality technologies "remain key investment areas for Facebook," according to CNBC. "The first product we'll have in [the augmented reality techspace], it's – I'll set expectations – it's not going to be anywhere near where we want to eventually go," said Wehner, "It's the smart glasses from Ray-Ban in partnership with Luxottica later this year."

In March of 2020, Facebook inked a deal with Plessey for microLED display technology. Take a peek at the video below to see a presentation from Plessey about their AR-Vu technology for the future of AR glasses.

It was all the way back in September of 2020 that the Ray-Ban AR glasses were first revealed. It was then that Facebook Reality Labs showed the first look at the prototype glasses they suggested would be in the hands (or on the faces) of Facebook employees in San Francisco and Seattle to begin collecting data with the glasses' various sensors and cameras.

If these glasses are anything like what Microsoft's already released in Hololens 1 and 2, or Google's Google Glass, they'll be cool, but they'll need more than a tiny push to make any sort of major impact on the wide world of augmented reality and smart wearable devices. Take a peek at the timeline below for more recent bits and pieces from the world of AR glasses.