Meta, owner of services such as Instagram and WhatsApp, announced the expansion of its partnership with the brand EssilorLuxottica. The company specialized in glasses and other optical equipment will now be an ally for at least another ten years in projects in the sector.
EssilorLuxottica has already worked with Meta on the two models of smart glasses launched by the company with Ray-Ban. With the new contract, the expectation is that Mark Zuckerberg's company will continue in this market and launch other generations of the device in the coming years.
According to the official statement, the alliance will allow Ray-Ban Meta eyewear to maintain the “perfect balance between form and functionality”, with EssilorLuxottica's expertise in the optical field and its distribution network combined with Meta's technological advances — including in artificial intelligence (AI).
Smart glasses market booming?
The most recent model from the partnership was the 2023 Ray-Ban Meta glasses. The product caught the market's attention even though it was sold in few regions and could boost other similar launches from competitors.
There are rumors, for example, that Apple is planning a competitor in the sector — it would be very different from the Apple Vision Pro, sold since March of this year by the manufacturer.
The glasses are also integrated with social networks.Source: Meta
In addition, Qualcomm already has a platform ready for the smart glasses format and its launch will involve an alliance with Google and South Korea's Samsung. In China, brands such as Oppo have also already launched restricted sales models or are already testing the technology.
Smart glasses are capable of recording or taking photos using attached cameras, as well as displaying content on the lenses. Among their functions, the models can send notifications from other devices and make audio or video calls, for example, with navigation normally based on gestures, voice or taps on the temple.