Meta may be working with Oakley on its next smart glasses: report

Meta is working with Oakley on a new pair of smart glasses, according to Bloomberg.

Per the publication, these Oakley-branded glasses, internally referred to as ‘Supernova 2,’ would be based on the sports equipment company’s ‘Sphaera’ product line (pictured above). The Sphaera glasses are popular among athletes, in particular, and Bloomberg says they would be a key target demographic for this new collaboration.

These Oakley-branded products are expected to come later this year and would join Meta’s existing Ray-Ban smart glasses lineup, which will continue over the next several years. Bloomberg says Supernova 2 is one of three ways the company plans to expand upon its smart glasses catalogue. In addition to the Oakley partnership, the company reportedly intends to bring the Ray-Ban glasses to more markets.

But most importantly, the biggest change will be higher-end smart glasses coming later this year. Codenamed ‘Hypernova,’ these devices are said to be more akin to the Ray-Ban glasses but supposedly not branded as such. This new model will include an informational display on the bottom of the right lens and allow you to run apps, view notifications and see photos. Users would also have a wrist strap called ‘Ceres’ to control the glasses.

In other words, this would bring Meta closer to the augmented reality experience it’s openly pursued for quite some time. However, Bloomberg says Hypernova is expected to cost around $1,000 USD (about $1,438 CAD), well above the $299 USD/$369 CAD Meta Ray-Bans.

This would be a precursor to the more powerful ‘Artemis’ smart glasses that would build upon the ‘Orion’ prototype Meta has been touting. The Artemis relies on an external puck to handle computing and is intended to offer true AR functionality. Bloomberg says Meta will give Orion to software developers in 2026 to prepare for a potential commercial release of Artemis in the following year.

Finally, Bloomberg reports that Meta is exploring options for smart watches and camera-equipped earbuds, specifically noting that these would, in theory, directly compete with the Apple Watch and AirPods. That said, these are so far only prototypes and might not actually see the light of day.

In the meantime, Meta has faced significant criticism this month amid changes to its content moderation policies that saw the end of fact-checkers on its platforms and rolling back of restrictions on topics like immigration and gender identity. This means that people can now — to cite Meta’s own internal guidelines — say such things as “gays are freaks” and “immigrants are grubby, filthy pieces of shit” with impunity. Naturally, this will only result in more fake news and hate speech, which has led many to abandon Meta’s platforms.

Image credit: Oakley

Source: Bloomberg