Meta Introduces Orion, Its First Augmented Reality Smart Glasses

The tech giant Meta introduced yesterday its first Augmented Reality (AR) glasses prototype, Orion, during the company’s annual Connect conference.

The new glasses are AI-powered and include a neural interface. Users will be able to interact with it through voice, movement, and neural signals through a wristband, but it’s not available for sale yet. Orion glasses are for internal use, and the company expects to make them “more fashionable” and “smaller” for customers interested in the new technology, according to FT.

“We’re unveiling Orion, which we believe is the most advanced pair of AR glasses ever made,” wrote the tech company in the press release. “Orion bridges the physical and virtual worlds, putting people at the center so they can be more present, connected, and empowered in the world.”

During the presentation, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, said that Orion is “a glimpse into the future” and shared more details. Zuckerberg acknowledged the technical challenges and highlighted that these new AR glasses can switch from 2D to 3D experiences, connect with people abroad through holograms, and games, and help people multitask.

Meta announced Orion: “the world’s most advanced AR glasses ever made”

> Meta AI and Orion are multimodal and can understand everything you see
> Comes with eye, hand, and neural tracking
> Video calls turn friends into lifelike avatars next to you

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“Voice is great, but the thing is sometimes public, and you don’t want to say what you’re trying to do . . . I think that you need a device that allows you to just send a signal from your brain to the device,” Zuckerberg said to emphasize the neural interface.

Metal also launched a new version of its headset Quest, the Quest S3, available for sale starting at $299, cheaper than its previous version according to CNBC.

The race for smart glasses has begun. Snap also announced new AR glasses just a few days ago, and Google and Samsung partnered with Qualcomm to build similar devices as well.