Mark Zuckerberg talked about his ambitions for Meta’s AI smart glasses business during Meta’s Q4 2025 earnings call on wednesday.
After pivoting its Reality Labs investments away from the metaverse, Meta is doubling down on production of wearable AI devices, as well as its own AI models.
“Billions of people are wearing glasses or contacts to correct their vision. And I think we’re in a moment similar to when smartphones arrived, and it was clearly only a matter of time before all these foldable phones became smartphones,” Zuckerberg said. “It’s hard to imagine a world in several years where most of the glasses people wear aren’t artificial intelligence glasses.”
He added that sales of Meta’s glasses have tripled in the last year and he believes they are “some of the fastest growing consumer electronics in history.”
Take Zuckerberg’s view with a grain of salt. After all, he also thought we’d go to work and hang out with our friends in the metaverse — legs optional — and that didn’t work out for him.
But based on how the biggest tech players are allocating their money and effort, it looks like AI glasses are poised for a big time, even if they’re not on the smartphone scale.
Google is expected to release a line of smart glasses this year, following a $150 million deal with Warby Parker. Apple is also reportedly planning to unveil smart glasses within the next two years, moving some staff to that project instead of working on a lighter Vision Pro. according to Bloomberg. Meanwhile, Snap announced Tuesday that it will spin off its AR glasses maker, Specs, into a new subsidiary to allow for “greater operational focus and alignment.”
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Even OpenAI, a company that has yet to venture into hardware, is pursuing wearable AI devices, though it seems more focused on something like an AI pin or headset, rather than glasses. Apple is also rumored to be working on an AirTag-sized AI device — though hopefully those efforts turn out better than the Humane AI pin.
At the moment, Meta is leading the way in promoting smart glasses in the market, with several different models already on the market. This includes Oakley smart glasses designed to be worn during exercise, which is the most promising use case we’ve personally seen for these devices so far.
