Meta Previews the Future of AR — Here’s What It Means for Brands
Meta maps a clear vision for the post-mobile future; Whether it can pull it off is an entirely different question
Mark Zuckerberg put on a good show on Wednesday. During the opening keynote at the 2024 Meta Connect developer event, in between awkward segues, the Meta CEO unveiled a trio of products that seek to redefine the mixed reality market: a new $300 Quest 3S headset that significantly lowers VR’s entry price, an upgraded pair of Ray-Ban smart glasses powered by Meta AI, and a preview of a working prototype of its holographic Orion AR glasses. Each product announcement was accompanied by live demos, adding a layer of excitement to the event.
These three mixed reality products, though in various stages of development, signify Meta’s ongoing commitment to conquering mixed reality through hardware products. On stage, Zuckerberg was very confident in the company’s roadmap and boasted its mixed-reality devices as industry-leading. Meta has shown a clear vision for the post-mobile future where AI-powered smart glasses could eventually replace smartphones as the primary computing device, but whether the company can pull it off is an entirely different question.
Orion AR Glasses: A Preview of the Future
Let’s start with the most exciting reveal at the Meta Connect event: after years in development, Meta’s Orion AR glasses have finally been revealed, offering a glimpse into the future of computing. The glasses were unveiled in a dramatic fashion towards the end of the keynote, emerging from a locked briefcase on stage; Zuckerberg praised them as “the most advanced glasses this world has ever seen, period.”
Unlike most mixed-reality devices in the market today, Orion operates as a standalone device, relying only on a small, wireless puck-like device for computing power and connectivity, while the OLED glasses themselves handle low-latency display calculations. In terms of user interface, Orion not only supports the typical cohort of wearable inputs including voice command, eye-tracking, and head-tracking, it also supports a cool neural wristband that detects the electrical signals in your arm for more subtle hand gestures.
One of Orion’s most impressive features is its 70-degree field of view, which surpasses competitors like Snap’s Spectacles, which offer only 46 degrees. Even though Orion’s display has a lower resolution compared to, say, Apple’s Vision Pro, this wide field of view offsets that by enabling a more natural and immersive user experience. It allows users to move their heads around without losing sight of the virtual windows and items, so that they can easily interact with digital elements overlaid on the real world.
As exciting as it sounds, the Orion is still years away from being a viable consumer product — currently each unit reportedly costs around $10,000 to produce, which means that it is absolutely unattainable for most consumers, at least not until Meta can scale production and reduce costs significantly. While Zuckerburg seemed confident about turning Orion into a viable consumer product, there are some obvious obstacles and persistent challenges ahead.
The timing of Meta’s Orion tease is no accident. This preview of Meta’s most exciting hardware product to date came amid increasing competition in the mixed reality space. Apple’s Vision Pro headset, Snap’s AR Spectacles, and Google’s ongoing collaborations with Magic Leap and Samsung all reflect a rapidly evolving market. Each of these companies has their unique strengths, but overall, Meta’s biggest competitor in the mixed reality space is hands-down Apple, whose excellence in hardware manufacturing, software design, and ecosystem integration makes it a formidable rival for Meta, which, by comparison, has yet to establish itself as a mainstream hardware company, despite the relative success of Oculus headsets.
That said, Meta has an advantage in its large developer ecosystem and user base, which it will be sure to leverage to build up its mixed reality ecosystem. Meta is currently positioning Orion as a development kit, with limited availability to external developers. This approach mirrors the early rollout of other groundbreaking tech products, including the latest Spectacles that Snapchat announced last week.
Even then, Meta has struggled to prove the general-purpose viability of its hardware, as the Quest headsets have primarily gained traction among gamers. The Orion AR glasses, while promising, will need to overcome both technical and perception hurdles to become a ubiquitous consumer device. Until then, Orion will remain a niche product for AR developers and curious early adopters with cash to burn.
Ray-Ban Smart Glasses: Audio-First AI Wearables
In contrast to the futuristic Orion AR glasses, Meta’s updated Ray-Ban smart glasses are much closer to being a mainstream product. First introduced in 2021, the latest iteration of these glasses received AI-driven upgrades and integration with popular audio streaming services like iHeartRadio and Audible, making it an audio-driven wearable device.
One of the standout features of the 2024 Ray-Ban glasses is their real-time AI video processing. Users can ask the glasses questions about their surroundings, such as identifying objects or providing information about landmarks, and the AI responds audibly in real time. This level of interaction brings AI into everyday activities, making the glasses not just a passive device but an active assistant.
Another notable feature is live language translation, which enables conversations between speakers of different languages to be translated in real time — a clear use case for global travelers. Zuckerberg demoed this feature live on stage with a Spanish-speaking UFC Champion, and the results were passable, if a bit awkward at times.
Meta is positioning the Ray-Ban smart glasses as a bridge between the traditional smartphone and the future of augmented reality. With familiar features like reminders, QR code scanning, and music streaming, the glasses integrate with existing habits while introducing users to the potential of AR. These functionalities, combined with new Transitions lenses that adjust to lighting conditions, make the Ray-Ban Meta glasses a more polished, consumer-ready product than previous iterations.
The future of Meta’s AR endeavors will likely hinge on its ability to marry cutting-edge technology with practical, affordable hardware. While the Orion glasses may be years away from mass-market adoption, products like the Ray-Ban smart glasses represent a more immediate step forward. These products serve as Meta’s foray into blending AI with wearable technology, and if successful, they could pave the way for more advanced AR devices like Orion to enter the mainstream.
The Meta Quest 3S: Lowering the VR Entry Point
Besides Orion and the Ray-Ban glasses, Meta introduced the Quest 3S, a more affordable version of its popular Quest headset, priced at $300, essentially half the prices of its predecessors. This new entry-level VR headset aims to make immersive content more accessible to a broader audience. Quest 3S supports a variety of applications, from immersive VR gaming (including titles like Just Dance and Supernatural) to productivity tools that simulate a full virtual environment, and even a remote desktop functionality with the latest Windows PCs.
Meta’s strategy with the Quest 3S is clear: lower the entry barrier to mixed reality while expanding the device’s utility beyond entertainment. However, a live demo of the new headset crashed during the keynote, underscoring the technical challenges that still exist in delivering a seamless mixed reality experience. The Quest 3S’ success will depend not only on its affordability but also on Meta’s ability to address these performance issues and create a compelling library of VR applications beyond gaming.
How Can Brands Prepare for an AR Future
Meta’s latest announcements push forward the emerging mixed reality space, whose development will continue to shift how consumers interact with brands in the coming years, opening new avenues for brands to engage consumers.
For example, one of the most promising aspects of Meta’s AR strategy is its focus on real-time AI interactions within everyday settings, as evidenced by its latest Ray Ban glasses. This presents a major opportunity for brand marketers to create interactive, real-world experiences. Brands could develop bespoke content that interacts with this functionality, making it possible for users to receive curated recommendations, product suggestions, or even promotional offers based on what they are looking at. This kind of contextual, AI-driven engagement could significantly enhance the in-store shopping experience, making it richer and more tailored to individual preferences.
The Orion AR glasses, though still in prototype form, also offer intriguing possibilities. With a wide field of view and the ability to project holographic images directly in front of users, brands could utilize these glasses to create highly immersive advertisements and interactive campaigns that blur the line between digital and physical spaces.
To prepare for this future, brands should consider building out mixed reality content strategies now, starting with developing partnerships with 3D and immersive content creators to produce branded experiences that can be deployed across various mixed reality devices. By investing early in developing a strong mixed reality presence, brands can position themselves as leaders in this emerging space and capitalize on new ways of reaching consumers.
In conclusion, Meta’s latest announcements are more than just hardware upgrades — they are signals of a coming transformation in how brands will need to think about digital marketing. To succeed, companies should start investing in AR and MR content development, build robust AI capabilities, and look for creative ways to integrate their offerings into this fast-evolving group of immersive, context-aware computing platforms.