Meta Unveils Insights into AR Glasses Hardware, Highlighting Challenges and Innovations

Meta is making giant strides in the manufacturing of its augmented reality (AR) glasses, a milestone in the company’s quest for consumer AR technology. Such openness about the hardware and the problems surrounding these future AR glasses is a relief, giving insights into Meta’s ambitious vision of the future of wearable technology.
Meta has just released its Aria Gen 2 glasses, which are primarily intended for researchers. The glasses have significant enhancements, including eye-tracking cameras, a barometer, a PPG sensor for heart rate monitoring, and a contact microphone for enhanced voice capture. While these glasses are not consumer-oriented, they serve as a testing platform for technology that could eventually end up in Meta’s consumer AR glasses.
One of the biggest improvements in Aria Gen 2 is the increased battery life, with six to eight hours of continuous use. Compared to the initial generation that lasted for about one and a half hours, this is a huge leap forward. Consumer models might not achieve the same battery life due to design restrictions, but any development borrowed from Aria Gen 2 might negate battery longevity issues in future consumer models.
In 2025, Meta will introduce its first screen-equipped smart glasses, a major milestone toward even more advanced AR capability. The glasses will have a small in-lens screen to view notifications and other basic AR functionality. That is part of a broader vision to integrate AR technology into everyday life, ultimately working toward building AR glasses capable of replacing smartphones.
Apart from these intelligent glasses, Meta is also creating a neural interface smartwatch which can remotely operate the glasses by hand gestures. This smartwatch will also integrate Meta’s social media apps and include health and fitness capabilities along with them, all of which will broaden the user experience.
Meta’s most advanced AR project is the Orion glasses, codenamed Project Nazare internally. The glasses display high-quality holograms and are the company’s first actual AR glasses. An employee launch in 2024 and then a consumer release in 2027 is expected. The Orion glasses are the pinnacle of Meta’s AR ambitions and aim to revolutionize how people interact with technology.
The AR glasses market is heating up, with competitors like Samsung also planning to launch their own smart glasses in 2025. Meta’s collaborations with brands like Ray-Ban and Oakley will likely make fashionable and usable AR glasses popular with the masses. The upcoming release of a high-end model, codenamed ‘Hypernova,’ featuring a built-in display is also on the cards. This one will probably cost approximately $1,000, which is far more than current Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
With Meta moving forward and pushing the frontiers of AR technology further, the company is leading the charge in taking wearable tech to the next level. By focusing on consumer as well as researcher markets, Meta is paving the way for AR glasses to be embraced as part of daily life.