Meta’s executives are so in on AI wearables, the company plans to unleash six new mixed reality devices this year, according to a leaked memo. The tech industry is still grappling with the massive flop of the “metaverse”; even as the company’s engineers and execs attempt to sell us on the benefits of AI chatbots on your face, Meta can’t get over its last missteps with Horizon Worlds.
Silicon Valley normally works in waves, and judging by the recent annual Consumer Electronics Show, the tide is dragging us all toward a deep, black ocean of AI wearables. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg already promised investors the moon and more, saying the company’s goal is to ship hundreds of millions and “eventually” sell “billions” of AI glasses. On Thursday, Business Insider shared a leaked memo from Meta’s Reality Labs head Andrew “Boz” Bosworth titled “2025: The Year of Greatness.” In it, Bosworth claims the company is “pushing our advantage by launching half a dozen more AI powered wearables.”
The memo was sent to staff in November, so plans could have changed in the meantime. Six new AI wearables in a single year would smash Meta’s hardware record for any other year. In 2024, the company launched its revamped Ray-Ban Meta glasses and the Meta Quest 3S. Zuckerberg teased “third-generation” smart glasses technology during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. Recent reports from Bloomberg have hinted Meta is now working on a pair of sports-centric Oakley-styled AR glasses for athletes. These reports further hint the company is developing glasses with a heads-up display, internally dubbed Hypernova.
The other products could simply be different glasses styles, much like the Ray-Ban smart glasses that come in “Wayfarer,” “Skyler,” and “Headliner” varieties. The more expensive $370 versions include transition lenses. However, Boz further mentioned “we need to drive sales, retention, and engagement across the board but especially in MR [AKA mixed reality].” This hints that Meta wants to drop more products with displays, akin to Project Orion true AR glasses the company showed off at Meta Connect last year.
What this doesn’t suggest is any new VR helmet in the works. Bloomberg previously reported Meta is working on two new Quest headsets, one of which might be a sequel to the short-lived Quest Pro. Either way, the glasses seem more of a shoo-in for 2025. These plans for “Greatness” also include Horizon Worlds, Meta’s first attempt at a “metaverse” living world that was so dull it made the 2003 game Second Life seem like a roller coaster thrill ride by comparison.
“Horizon Worlds on mobile absolutely has to break out for our long term plans to have a chance,” Bosworth continued. “If you don’t feel the weight of history on you then you aren’t paying attention. This year likely determines whether this entire effort will go down as the work of visionaries or a legendary misadventure.”
The memo is full of hyperbole and corporate speech so thick Weird Al Yankovich could use it to conceive a sequel to his parody jingle Mission Statement. Nowhere does Bosworth even mention the word “metaverse,” which is interesting considering the entire company was named after that previous attempt to become “visionaries” in tech. The weight of history crushed those designs on a shared VR universe, mostly because nobody wants to spend more than an hour or two strapped into a VR device.
Smart glasses make much more sense from a usability standpoint, though we have yet to see a pair that makes good on the promise of wearable computers. Apple was reportedly working on a similar pair of mixed-reality spectacles, though the latest hints from reliable sources suggest the company killed off its planned AR glasses. The company was reportedly stumped by the need for processing power and battery life. Considering Apple’s missteps, Meta needs to prove it can do more than offer an AI chatbot for your face.