Will Meta’s smart glasses finally be worth buying? Zuckerberg drops big hint on a third-generation Meta Ray-Bans

Early smart glasses received a bit of a tepid response but, as AI brings more features to wearables, 2025 could be a make-or-break year for the technology. During its quarterly earnings call, Meta lead Mark Zuckerberg said the upcoming year will be a “defining year” for the smart glasses category and hinted at a third generation for the Meta Ray-Bans.

During the call, Zuckerberg focused primarily on the impact of AI but touched on everything from the social networks' user count to the Metaverse to “redefining our relationship with governments.” But the founder and CEO’s brief discussion on the company’s smart glasses seemed to hint at an upcoming third generation.

“Our Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses are a real hit, and this will be the year when we understand the trajectory for AI glasses as a category,” he said in the earnings call. “Many breakout products in the history of consumer electronics have sold 5-10 million units in their third generation.

“This will be a defining year that determines if we're on a path towards many hundreds of millions and eventually billions of AI glasses – and glasses being the next computing platform like we've been talking about for some time – or if this is just going to be a longer grind. But it's great overall to see people recognizing that these glasses are the perfect form factor for AI – as well as just great, stylish glasses.”

There are a few potential takeaways from Zuckerberg’s comment, the biggest being his mention of tech that tends to break out in the “third generation.” The comment could support the rumors that are calling for the smart glasses to get a third-gen refresh in 2025.

Zuckerberg’s comment also seems to address the relatively slow reception to smart glasses technology, pondering the possibility of the tech being “the next big computing platform” or if the process will be a “a longer grind.”

Some unconfirmed rumors are calling for the glasses to get a display in the next generation, but Zuckerberg seems to hint at more AI features when he calls the tech “the perfect form factor for AI.” The smart glasses already have Meta AI features, enabling users to not only ask general questions but ask about something in a photo taken with the camera glasses.

The last reported sales numbers for the glasses were over 700,000 as of last fall, so Zuckerberg’s note on third-generation technology that tends to see 5-10 million sold would be a steep jump for the category. The second generation, however, outsold the first after just a few months.

Zuckerberg added a bit more insight in the questions and answer session at the end of the earnings call. “I’ve said for a while that I think that glasses are the ideal form factor for an AI device because you can let an AI assistant on your glasses see what you see and hear what you hear, which gives it the context to be able to understand everything that’s going on in your life that you would want to talk to it about and get context on,” he said.

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