Zuckerberg presents Orion, the smart glasses of the future

Mark Zuckerberg surprised the audience at Meta Connect 2024 by presenting the prototype of the Orion smart glasses, opening a new chapter in the world of augmented reality glasses. Billed as the most advanced pair of augmented reality glasses ever created, the Orion represent for Meta the basis for a future commercial product. Their development was not easy: Zuckerberg emphasized that it took more than a decade of work to create transparent glasses that project holograms into the wearer’s field of vision. Meta, in a blog post, stated that “defining the design, providing holographic displays, developing immersive AR experiences, creating new paradigms of human-computer interaction, and doing it all in a cohesive product – it’s one of the most difficult challenges our industry has ever faced”.

The Orion prototype features a rather thick frame, especially when compared to the current Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. It is assumed that Meta will reduce the size before the commercial launch. The glasses can be controlled via voice, eye tracking, and hand tracking. Zuckerberg also mentioned a “neural link,” which is actually a bracelet that allows you to scroll and click through menus. The glasses also have no connecting cables. Currently, the glasses require an external processor that wirelessly powers apps and graphics. The overall weight is just 100 grams.

The most interesting feature of the Orion is its lenses, which are made of silicon carbide rather than glass or plastic. This material is stronger, lighter, and offers an ultra-high refractive index for the built-in projectors. The lenses appear slightly dark, like photochromic lenses in transition, but you can still see the speaker’s expressions and eyes. The field of view is 70 degrees, which is impressive compared to the new Meta Quest 3 headset, which offers a 96-degree field of view. Meta didn’t mention any specific software or apps when announcing the Orion glasses. Zuckerberg talked about conversations with holographic images of other people, and a demo showed mixed-reality versions of Pong on surfaces in front of people.

Some of the suggested AR interfaces include RSS feeds, YouTube, Spotify, and ESPN. It’s unclear whether the software currently supports these features. There’s no firm date yet for a commercial launch of an Orion-based product. Zuckerberg said Meta is treating the platform as a development kit while it works to reduce the price and streamline the design. Meta said the price of a future pair of Orion AR glasses will be similar to that of a high-end phone or laptop. The Orion glasses are currently being billed as a development kit for Meta and outside partners to build software and hardware for the new mixed reality platform. It remains to be seen whether this will turn into a highly upgraded version of the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses or an entirely new product.