Digital Eyewear from Essilorluxottica: Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses as pioneering AI glasses technology

The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses have achieved remarkable success since their market launch in October 2023:

• Over 2 million copies have been sold so far.
• Francesco Milleri, CEO of Essilorluxottica, described the smart glasses as "great success".
• The sales figures clearly exceed that of the predecessor Ray-Ban Stories, of which less than 300,000 units were sold in the same period.

In view of the great success, essilorluxottica plans a massive increase in production capacities:

• The company aims to increase the annual production capacity to 10 million units by the end of 2026.
• This expansion requires a significant expansion of the existing production systems.

Essilorluxottica, manufacturer of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses and meta see great potential in the smart glasses:

• The companies plan in the long term and see the Ray-Ban Meta as a common platform that should also be open to third-party brands.
• The multimodal visual AI function, currently limited to some countries, will soon be available worldwide.

Suitable for:

• Real smart glasses without Augmented & Mixed Reality XR functionality? Ray-Ban Meta Glasses and Solo's AirGo V (Vision)
• Not augmented reality yet, but smart: The comparison between Ray-Ban Meta Glasses and Solo's AirGo V (Vision) smart glasses

Despite the impressive growth, it should be noted that the desired 10 million units per year are still relatively low compared to the sales figures for smartphones (over 200 million annually from large manufacturers). Nevertheless, this success shows the growing interest in portable technology and the potential of smart glasses as a future digital platform for everyday life.

The commitment to medical devices, smartlass and iconic brands has never been so strong at Essilorluxottica. With Ray-Ban Meta, the digital eyewear, and the Nuance Audio approved by the FDA, which creates a completely new category, designs the future. The exponential growth of Stellest (an innovative glasses of Essilorluxottic) as well as strategic takeover, including Heidelberg Engineering, Espansione Group, Pulse Audition and Cellview, continues to expand the expertise of essilorluxottica. With Supreme as part of the portfolio and the newly expanded support of important partners such as Diesel, Dolce & Gabbana, Michael Kors and Prada, we set new standards in terms of attractiveness, cultural influence and technology acceptance.

Find the right Metaverse agency and planning office such as a consulting firm - Image: Xpert.Digital

🗒️ Find the right Metaverse agency and planning office such as a consulting firm - search and search for top ten tips for consulting & planning

More about it here:

• Experts in the Metaverse and XR: Find the right partners

Smart Glasses as an interface: the fusion of physical and digital world

The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses have written a remarkable success story since their market launch in October 2023. With over two million units sold by February 2025, they exceed the sales figures of their predecessor model, the Ray-Ban Stories, many times over. This not only underlines the growing acceptance of portable technology, but also marks a paradigm shift in the use of glasses as a digital everyday companion. Essilorluxottica, the manufacturer behind the Ray Ban brand, reacts to this demand with an ambitious increase in production to ten million units per year until the end of 2026. This expansion is accompanied by technological innovations such as multimodal AI, expanded display functions and strategic partnerships that the Smart Glasses in the long term as a central interface between physical and digital world should establish.

Market performance and consumer adoption

Sales and historical context

The Ray-Ban Meta Glasses exceeded the two million mark within 16 months after their launch, a result that is in the strong contrast to the previous model Ray-Ban Stories. The latter only sold 300,000 times in the same period. This increase around six times illustrates the increased maturity of technology and the improved integration into the everyday life of users. Francesco Milleri, CEO of Essilorluxottica, emphasizes the increasing "activation rate" and "useful life", which indicates a growing product loyalty.

A key factor for this success lies in pricing policy: With an entry price of $ 300, the glasses position themselves in the premium segment, but remain significantly under comparable AR glasses. The possibility of adapting individual preservatives (from 40 euros surcharge) extends the target group to carriers of correction glasses.

Demographic and geographical distribution

While concrete demographic data is missing, indirect indicators indicate strong adoption in technology-savvy millennials and gen Z. The integration of music streaming services such as Spotify and social media functions (e.g. direct instagram parts) addresses these target groups. Geographically, the North American market dominates, but Meta is gradually expanding the availability of multimodal AI functions into other regions, including Europe and Asia.

Production increase and supply chain management

Capacity expansion on 10 million units

Essilorluxottica's plan to quantify annual production by 2026 requires massive investments in the production infrastructure. The production is currently primarily in China, with new works in Southeast Asia (presumably Vietnam and Thailand) to be added. This choice of location not only reflects cost efficiency, but also the strategic proximity to Asian suppliers for microelectronics and optical components.

Interestingly, the company plans to use the same production lines for other smart glass models such as the Nuance Audio (with integrated hearing solutions). This indicates a modularization strategy in which base platforms are flexibly adapted for various product variants.

Challenges in scaling

The planned quotation of the capacities within two years carries considerable risks. The optical industry struggles globally with bottlenecks in high -precision glasses and microoptic components. In addition, the calibration of the AI ​​sensors (speech recognition, gesture control) requires labor-intensive manual tests that have so far hardly been automated. Essilorluxottica relies on partnerships with robotics companies to overcome this bottle neck.

Technological innovations and future roadmap

Multimodal AI and display technologies

Current rumors indicate a third generation of the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, which could integrate a miniature display in the right temple for the first time. This AR-like overlay would expand the use of navigation instructions, real-time translations and context-sensitive information. Meta works in parallel on an improved voice control that works without an internet connection - a crucial step for use in data protection -sensitive environments.

The live translation function already implemented, previously limited to English, Spanish and Mandarin, is to be expanded to 50 languages ​​by 2027. For this purpose, META trains neural networks specifically on the acoustics of bone pipe systems that are installed in the glasses brackets.

Health monitoring and medical technology synergies

Essilorluxottica uses its know-how from the medical device area (including by taking over Heidelberg Engineering) for the integration of biomedical sensors. Prototypes already measure pupil reactions for fatigue detection and analyze tear fluid to glucose values ​​- the latter particularly relevant for diabetics. These functions could be ready for series production from 2027, provided that the registration authorities (FDA, EMA) give the green light.

Strategic partnerships and ecosystem development

Meta and Essilorluxottica: a long -term alliance

The prolonged partnership extended in 2024 until 2034 stipulates the Smart Glasses as an open platform for third -party providers. Initial cooperation with Spotify (personalized listening experiences) and zoom (meeting assistant) show the potential. The planned introduction of a subscription model from 2026 is remarkable, which unlocks exclusive AI features (e.g. personal style consultant) for monthly fees.

These cooperation illustrates the potential of the platform and the intention to continuously expand the possible uses of the Smart Glasses.

Competition and market dynamics

A remarkable aspect of the strategy is the planned introduction of a subscription model from 2026:

• Exclusive AI features: For a monthly fee, users should have access to exclusive AI-based functions.
• Personal style consultant: A AI-based personal style consultant is mentioned as an example of such premium functions.

This abomodell could make an important contribution to long-term monetization of smart glasses technology.

Despite this strong position, increasing competition is emerging:

• Samsung and Google: A cooperation to develop Smart Glasses with Google's Gemini Ai is expected for the end of 2025 or early 2026.
• Apple: According to reports, Apple plans the introduction of its own smart glasses in 2027.

Mark Zuckerberg emphasizes the need to use the current market leadership in order to advance the spread of Meta Ai Glasses as soon as possible before the competition catches up.

The long-term alliance between Meta and Essilorluxottica positions both companies well for the future of the Smart Glasses market. By opening the platform for third -party providers and the introduction of innovative business models, you strive to consolidate and expand your market position while you are also preparing for increasing competition.

Suitable for:

• AR glasses Light? Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses with Augmented Reality Display is coming! Expected to be in the second half of 2025
• Meta is planning Oakley smart glasses “Supernova 2” and “Hypernova” for this year – as well as AR glasses “Artemis” for 2027

Comparative analysis and future potential

Smart Glasses vs. Smartphones: a estimatable comparison

Despite the ambitious production goals, the 10 million intended units per year remain far behind the 200 million smartphones sold annually. However, the penetration rate in niche markets shows remarkable values: Among US students already have 12% smart glasses, primarily for university applications such as lecture records.

The role of acts lenses and medical expertise

Essilorluxottica's parallel development of the actual lenses on myopia control underlines the group's synergistic approach. The holding technology (Highly Aspherical Lenslet Target) used in these lenses could in future be coupled with smart glass sensors to compensate for eye fatigue in real time. Such hybrid solutions would bundle the medical and technological added value.

Ray-Ban Meta and the future of digital glasses-revolution or supplement to the smartphone?

The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses mark a turning point in consumer electronics by combining aesthetics with augmented functionality. Essilorluxottica's production offensive illustrates trust in this technology as a permanent platform, not as a short -lived innovation. The coming years will show whether the glasses can actually establish itself as a "digital twin" of the smartphone-in particular by the integration of health features and the creation of an open app ecosystem.

The data protection problem remains critical: the permanent recording of environmental data by camera and microphone requires clear regulatory framework. This is where Meta relies on ON-DEVICE KI processing so that sensitive data does not have to transfer into the cloud. If this balancing act between functionality and privacy, Smart Glasses could actually become the next ubiquitous technology - not as a replacement, but as a supplement to the smartphone.

Xpert.Digital - Pioneer Business Development

If you have any questions, further information or need advice on the topic of Consumer Metaverse or Metaverse in general, please feel free to contact me at any time.

Konrad Wolfenstein

I would be happy to serve as your personal advisor.

You can contact me by filling out the contact form below or simply call me on +49 89 89 674 804 (Munich) .

I'm looking forward to our joint project.

Xpert.Digital is a hub for industry with a focus on digitalization, mechanical engineering, logistics/intralogistics and photovoltaics.

With our 360° business development solution, we support well-known companies from new business to after sales.

Market intelligence, smarketing, marketing automation, content development, PR, mail campaigns, personalized social media and lead nurturing are part of our digital tools.

You can find out more at: www.xpert.digital - www.xpert.solar - www.xpert.plus