At Meta’s Connect developer conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Orion, a futuristic pair of smart glasses that the company hopes will lead the next foundational shift in personal computing.
Meta has been working on these glasses for 10 years, and they’re not just your typical smart display. According to Zuckerberg, these kinds of glasses will be so interactive that they’ll usurp the smartphone for many needs. “Building this display is different from every other screen you’ve ever used,” Zuckerberg said on stage at Meta Connect.
The Orion glasses have a “new kind of display architecture” that uses projectors in the arms of the glasses to shoot waveguides into the lenses, which then reflect light into the wearer’s eyes and create volumetric imagery in front of you. This technology is designed by Meta itself.
The images don’t appear as flat, 2D graphics in front of your eyes but have shape and depth. This is a result of the advanced field of view, which is much more engaging and useful for most applications, whether gaming, social media, or just content consumption.
The Orion glasses can be used to project multiple virtual displays in front of someone, respond quickly to messages, video chat with someone, and play games. Users can navigate these interfaces by talking, tapping their fingers together, or by simply looking at virtual objects. Additionally, there will be a “neural interface” built in that can interpret brain signals, using a wrist-worn device.
Meta has designed these glasses to be a game-changer in personal computing, and they’re already generating a lot of buzz in the tech community. While we don’t know when a consumer version will be available, it’s clear that Meta is committed to making these glasses a reality.