Mark Zuckerberg is making a major bet on the future. He’s about to share it

By Lisa Eadicicco, CNN

New York (CNN) — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a bold claim on the social media giant’s earnings call in July. People without smart glasses may one day be at a “significant cognitive disadvantage” compared to those who do use the tech, he told analysts.

That vision for the company’s future could come into focus this week during the Meta Connect conference, where the tech giant outlines its next steps and announces new products. Reports suggest Meta will announce a new pair of AI-powered smart glasses to follow its relatively successful Ray-Ban spectacles, which can analyze a wearer’s environment and answer questions about their surroundings.

The smart glasses have been a bright spot in Meta’s largely lackluster attempts to bet early on disruptive technologies. It missed out on the smartphone in the early 2000s. Then in 2021, the company tried to reorient its brand around the metaverse, which failed to reshape the internet in the way Zuckerberg had envisioned.

But Meta’s glasses appear to be catching on with consumers; Ray-Ban parent EssilorLuxottica said in July that revenue from its Meta glasses more than tripled year-over-year. And market research indicates Meta is the leading smart glasses brand by far.

Smart glasses aren’t likely to become as ubiquitous as smartphones anytime soon. But they could allow Meta to reach consumers directly, potentially reducing reliance on smartphones. That could be critical as Meta seeks to develop “personal superintelligence” — a vague term Zuckerberg has used to describe AI that “knows us deeply, understands our goals, and can help us achieve them.”

The pressure is on as a wave of tech giants including Samsung, Google and Meta’s longtime social media rival Snap prepare to launch new smart glasses. Amazon is also developing new glasses with augmented reality, a technology that places computer graphics over real-world surroundings, according to The Information.

Meta’s AI glasses push

Meta and Ray-Ban partnered on a pair of glasses in 2021 called the Ray-Ban Stories that were primarily designed for capturing photos and videos hands-free. But Meta was far from the first to explore using glasses for tasks like snapping photos, making calls and listening to music without reaching for your phone.

Snap and Amazon, in addition to a wave of smaller tech firms, have all released smart glasses for these purposes. Google was an early entrant in 2013 with Google Glass, although that device was unpopular with consumers because of its high price, unfashionable look, limited functionality and short battery life.

Tech giants believe this new wave of smart glasses will be different. The technologies required to power the glasses – like processors, batteries and cameras – are now easier to fit in smaller, more lightweight designs at a much lower price than Google Glass.

But AI advancements have been primarily driving these new smart glasses. Virtual assistants that can answer questions based on a user’s surroundings nearly instantly have made smart glasses much more practical. With Meta’s eyewear, for example, a user can look at a pepper and ask whether it’s spicy, or read a sign and ask Meta’s AI assistant to translate it into a different language.

Meta is said to be developing new smart glasses that include a display for viewing apps and notifications and a wristband for easier gesture control, according to Bloomberg. Meta will likely announce these spectacles at the Connect conference, which it said will focus on the “latest innovations in AI glasses,” among other things. Last year, the company announced a prototype for its Orion augmented reality glasses.

Meta declined to comment on potential plans to announce new glasses at this week’s event.

The current Ray-Ban Meta glasses don’t display anything on the lenses, meaning wearers rely on audio feedback or Meta’s phone app. That could put them at a disadvantage compared to upcoming glasses like those from Google, which have a display for showing information along with providing verbal answers.

“That’s going to be another challenge,” said Guillaume Chansin, an analyst with market research firm Counterpoint Research. “Like if you want to replace a smartphone, can you really do that without having some kind of visual feedback?”

Why Meta cares so much about smart glasses

The AI boom has led to a tech industry frenzy to capitalize on the technology, as companies fear being perceived as behind the potential next big thing.

“Everybody is looking for what’s coming after the smartphone,” said Chansin.

The success of Apple’s AirPods and other wireless earbuds could strengthen the case for smart glasses. While the devices are inherently different, they serve some of the same purposes, like making calls and communicating with digital assistants without pulling out your phone.

“As we look forward, maybe smart glasses are going to evolve into the AirPods of the future,” said Melissa Otto, head of research at investment research provider S&P Global Visible Alpha.

Meta faces an uphill battle. While demand for smart glasses seems to be growing fast (ABI Research predicts the market will ship 13 million units in 2026, up from 3.3 million in 2024), they’re still a niche product. Hundreds of millions of smartphones are shipped in one quarter alone, and there’s little indication that smart glasses will ever be nearly as widely adopted.

Reality Labs, the division of Meta responsible for the company’s AI glasses and Quest virtual reality headsets, saw a $4.5 billion operating loss in the company’s fiscal second quarter of 2025. By comparison, Meta’s apps generated $583 million in revenue.

So what’s really in it for Meta? While smart glasses may not be a revenue driver right now, they could potentially set the stage for a future in which Meta is less reliant on hardware makers like Apple and Google to distribute its apps.

Meta has previously butted heads with Apple over policies related to the iPhone maker’s App Store, and Zuckerberg has previously criticized the iPhone maker’s App Store dominance.

“Apple’s (app store) stands out as the only one where one company can control what apps get on the device,” Zuckerberg said during the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit in 2022.

If glasses become the primary way people video chat and browse social media feeds, selling its own eyewear could give Meta more control over the experience.

“I look at Facebook, look at Instagram, look at Reels, Threads through my iPhone,” said Otto. “I don’t do it through a laptop. I don’t do it through smart glasses. I do it through my iPhone.”

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