Meta showed off its long-awaited AR glasses, Orion, during its Meta Connect event today. CEO Mark Zuckerberg called the creation “the most advanced glasses the world has ever seen.”
While other existing AR glasses have featured clunky displays that have limited the sight line for its users, Orion utilizes Micro LED projectors inside the frame to create a wide, 70-degree field of view. A unique control system combines eye tracking, hand gestures, and a neural wristband.
Alex Heath of The Verge tested the glasses and wrote a first-hand account of his thoughts. He called it “an impressive demo” as Meta begins to work on the consumer side of things with its Orion glasses. Another person who got to test out the specs was Matthew Ball, who wrote on X that they “were lighter, more comfortable, more attractive” and featured a “wider field of view” than other models.
The Orion glasses were initially planned for consumer release by 2024 but were shelved in 2022 due to prohibitively high production costs. According to The Verge, producing a unit costs about $10,000, with much of that cost coming from its silicon carbide lenses. For now, Meta is using them for internal development and external demos while working on more commercially viable versions for the future.
Zuckerberg said he expects Orion to be available within a few years, and The Verge suggests that its cost will be “comparable to the phones and laptops of today.” For the consumer prototype, the lenses and display may also look different than the one shown off at Meta Connect, and the size of the frames may be reduced to make it more practical for the everyday wearer. Until various material costs decrease, Orion may be far away from being on our faces.
But the arms race in the AR glasses space is ramping up nevertheless. Snap’s fifth-generation glasses are getting closer to becoming reality. Meta already has its smart Ray-Ban glasses on the market. And the rumored Apple smart glasses still remain a possibility.
The post Meta Debuts Orion AR Glasses That Cost $10,000 to Make appeared first on VICE.
The post Meta Debuts Orion AR Glasses That Cost $10,000 to Make appeared first on VICE.
