In an interview with thresholdMeta CTO and Reality Labs chief Andrew Bosworth confirmed a number of previously speculated projects, detailed the company's strategic shift towards AI and confirmed plans to deepen its partnership with Ray-Ban parent company EssilorLuxottica.
Meta reorganized Reality Labs earlier this year to better focus on wearable technologies such as Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses and AI-powered wearables; like the newer version of the wrist-mounted controller that was introduced last month alongside Meta's Orion AR glasses prototype.
Bosworth outlined the company's multi-stage product development process to get to this point. In a nutshell: a “pre-exploration” team produces prototypes of new concepts. Some ideas move into the “exploration” phase for feasibility and industrial design evaluation. Prototyping continues with more extensive executive involvement, and products that pass engineering validation can be brought to market.
In the interview, Bosworth confirmed a number of claims made in recent reports, including rumors that Meta is currently researching headsets with cameras, similar to what's going on at Apple, and a pair of mixed reality glasses that recently debuted. Exploration phase described as “steampunk-like”.
Although Bosworth has not confirmed this, an earlier report Information He suggested that mixed reality glasses could arrive as soon as 2027, assuming they successfully pass both the prototyping and engineering validation stages.
Bosworth also confirmed an earlier report that Meta had canceled its high-end Quest headset, codenamed La Jolla, which was initially expected to be the Quest Pro 2. Quest Pro and Apple Vision Pro.
It also appears that reports of Meta's plans to acquire a non-controlling stake in EssilorLuxottica, the company behind Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, are true. While the eyewear giant is chasing margin, Meta is looking for volume. “That's the tension, and we found a good solution to it, so we're pretty excited about it,” Bosworth said. threshold.
Meanwhile, Meta is increasingly focusing on AI-powered devices, aiming not to fall behind rivals like Apple. First of all, Meta now develops more than one product at the same time; This is a marked change from its early days.
“We certainly don't want to be surrounded by someone developing a smart, integrated wearable device that we haven't considered before,” says Bosworth. “If there is a part of your body that has the potential to host a wearable device capable of AI, there is a good chance we have studied it with a team.”
This comes as Meta is launching the Quest 3S, a new $300 mixed reality headset that undoubtedly hopes to replicate the Quest 2's success by packing the Quest 3's chipset and full-color mixed reality features alongside last-gen displays.