Four eyes, one dream

Countless memes calling smart glasses dorky, ugly, and creepy aren’t fazing the tech titans.

Today, Meta announced that it’s rolling out a cheaper model of wearable smart glasses under its own brand at a starting price of only $299 (and your dignity). Meta also announced a collaboration with Kylie Jenner, dubbed the “Starfire” model, priced at $399.

Apparently the Kardashian name-drop wasn’t enough to get investors very excited, given that shares fell 0.29% today.

But Meta is fine with a lukewarm reception after the meltdown shareholders had in reaction to Snap’s augmented-reality glasses launch last week. After Snap released the new Specs model for $2,195 last Tuesday, shares plummeted 10% that day—and another 8% on Wednesday.

Unlike Meta’s AI glasses, which can take photos and videos, play music, and give audio navigation, Snap is going for a full AR experience, featuring a display that feels like a 24-inch monitor, according to Snap. The glasses can project digital objects into the real world and do things like overlay directions on a street. That all sounds cool, until you see what they look like.

Critics didn’t mince words when slamming the design, which looks more like part of a Minions costume than something you’d wear casually: “This is the kind of product reveal that explains how a social media company can be down over 90% during one of the best tech bull markets in history,” Futurum Equities Chief Market Strategist Shay Boloor wrote on X.

Making smart glasses less dumb

Meta’s approach is different from Snap’s in a few key ways, and it bodes well for the launch. For one, Meta is focusing on driving down costs for consumers. And Meta’s smaller, sleeker design may make for less public ridicule. Both are usually key in creating something people will actually buy.

The AR war could already be over: Meta dominates the smart-glasses competition, commanding 80% of the market share along with its collaborator, Ray-Ban parent company EssilorLuxottica. But a slew of competitors are about to hit the market, including Google’s Warby Parker collaboration launching this fall, and Apple’s rumored smart glasses launching as soon as 2027.

Then there’s always the question of how popular these products will actually be once the early adopters are rocking their chosen AI shades. Only time will tell if there’s a market for glasses featuring a secret camera—for anyone besides spies and creeps.—LB