// WIRED US/UK — INTELLIGENZA ARTIFICIALE
Meta’s Very Own Smart Glasses Go on Sale Today for $299
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Smart glasses are like public transportation, according to Peter Bristol, Meta's vice president of industrial design. “People will use it when it's good enough.”
To reach “good enough,” Meta is making its smart glasses more accessible, more customizable, and comfier to wear.
On Tuesday, the company revealed three new pairs of smart glasses: Adventurer, Fury, and Starfire. The price starts at just $299, and while that matches the original price of Meta’s first-gen smart glasses, the price is markedly cheaper than the Ray-Ban Gen 2 glasses Meta launched last year. How did it get the price so low? Well, instead of Ray-Ban or Oakley branding to entice customers, these are just called Meta Glasses.
It’s a big step for Meta as it tries to establish its own brand as the de facto name in smart glasses. Also, that lack of a luxury name tag means a more accessible price.
Meta is still partnering with eyewear mega-conglomerate EssilorLuxottica to manufacture and distribute the new Meta Glasses. This means you can still buy a pair from a glasses shop like LensCrafters, prescription or not (they support a power range of -12 to +2.25). They go on sale today.
The three Meta Glasses frame have different shapes and unique styling. The Meta Adventurer has a classic rectangular shape and comes in standard and large sizes; the Meta Fury is similar but less boxy. These two designs feature 26 customizations buyers can choose from, like tinted lenses and various frame colors like Racing Green or Sandstone. But it's the Meta Starfire that will surely turn heads.
Designed in collaboration with Kylie Jenner, the Starfire edition looks similar to the newly announced Google-powered Gentle Monster glasses launching later this year. (They also look like Prada sunglasses.) There's a tiny gemstone on the lens for a bit of sparkle, the nose pad is metal to prevent absorbing makeup, and the Meta AI voice assistant will have an AI-generated version of Jenner's voice, complete with other custom sounds unique to this model. The case even includes a note from Jenner and has a built-in mirror.
Meta says it did three things to make these Meta Glasses comfier to wear. First, adjustable nose pads. You can slightly tilt the nose pad in three directions (adjusting them by a millimeter), so they sit better on the bridge of your nose. The temple tips are also adjustable thanks to a core wire, meaning you can slightly tilt them in or out to suit your face shape. Then there are the overextension hinges, which mean the arms of the glasses flare out slightly when you put them on your head, making it easier for folks with wider heads to find a good fit.
Size, weight, comfort, and design are crucial components for smart glasses. Just look at the new Snap AR Specs announced last week. Comically huge and bulky, Snap drew ire with its expensive and girthsome spectacles, even if they're more powerful and capable than Meta's glasses. The disastrous launch saw the company's stock plummet.
On Snap's Specs, Meta chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth says it's good for customers to have competition, and it's good for Meta to have customers trying these kinds of products. “It's a tremendous effort,” Bosworth says. “When someone takes different choices in weight and comfort, we get to learn from that and see how people respond to it. I've said too much.”