Meta Admits Smart Glasses Won’t Replace Smartphones Anytime Soon — But Says Adoption Is Growing

Meta’s best brass brass is reintegrating the expectations of the future of smart glasses, noting that its chances of becoming the next means of mobile communication are slim.

Speaking on Wednesday at the Bloomberg Technology Summit in San Francisco, the director of company technology, Andrew Bosworth, admitted that smart glasses – while promising – are far from replacing smartphones.

“These are means,” said Bosworth. “Smartphones are incredible and it is not only that they are excellent devices and practical. We are used to them. “

According to him, smartphones are deeply anchored in people’s lives because of their transparent connection with a global ecosystem of software and hardware in which intelligent glasses are still struggling to draw.

“There is an incredibly entangled software ecosystem linked to the rest of the world around us,” said Bosworth. “So I think that [smart glasses replacing phones] will make a longer trip. The good news is that they work very well in concerts, “he added with a smile.

Not just a meta view

Bosworth is not alone in this evaluation. Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, echoes similar feelings last year, telling the rod that the phones are there to stay – at least for the moment.

“It’s not like we are going to throw our phones,” said Zuckerberg. “But I think what will happen is that, slowly, we will just start doing more things with our glasses and leaving our phones more in our pockets.”

Zuckerberg suggested that 2025 would be a “decisive year” to determine if smart glasses could evolve towards “the next computer platform” or if their growth would be “just a longer version”. The Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses, Meta’s flagship product in the category were well received by the first adopters, but it is still too early to know if mass consumption behavior will change.

During his Bloomberg interview, Bosworth also weighed on the very publicized vision of Apple. Although he rents engineering behind the aircraft, he criticized his weight, calling him a “recruit error”.

“So, from the point of view of engineering, it is wonderful and congratulations to this team,” he said. “From the point of view of the product, you can say that this is their first offer in space.” He argued that Apple had misused the key aspects of the user experience, especially in the way the device is heavy and clumsy.

“First generation products are difficult. It is only the second or third generation that you really understood and perfecting the thing, and they made a lot of errors in terms of weight and where the weight was,” noted Bosworth.

Market heating slowly for Ray-Ban AI glasses

Despite skepticism about rapid adoption, Meta’s push in smart glasses experiences regular momentum. In January, Zuckerberg told investors when calling the company’s profits that Meta’s smart glasses were “real success”.

Essilorluxottica, which produced the glasses for Meta, confirmed in February that it had sold 2 million pairs since 2023. Its CEO, Francesco Milleri, said that the company was aimed at making up to 10 million units per year for Meta at the end of 2026 – a sign of growing confidence in the category.

Zuckerberg, who considers the glasses infused in AI as a key element in future computer science, noted that many revolutionary technological products have historically struck their stride in their third generation.

“Many products in small groups in the history of consumer electronics have sold 5 to 10 million units in third generation,” he said.

This reference could determine if the smart glasses AI pass niche gadgets with traditional devices – or remain a futuristic curiosity in consumer accessory drawers. However, Meta seems to be contained in playing long game, at least, for the moment.