Recently, Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth revealed in an interview that the company plans to launch a futuristic AR glasses prototype code-named "Orion" in 2024.
Meanwhile, in the interview, Bosworth confirmed that a small number of Meta employees will start testing the glasses internally next year, saying "I think there's a good chance that people will get a chance to experience it in 2024." He stressed that these glasses are Meta's most exciting prototype to date, and the shape of the tiger  maintenance. Public health care, public health, public health, public health, public health
According to a recent report from The Information, originally planning to produce 50,000 units and sell them to the public, Meta announced last year that it was abandoning its mass-production plans for Orion glasses, instead offering them to select developers as a demonstration of future AR technology. As a result, the company plans to produce about 1,000 pairs. For internal development and demonstration purposes only.
The reason why this AR glasses is called the most advanced consumer electronics device so far, it is reported that this is Meta's first pair of real AR glasses, designed to project high-quality virtual character holograms into the real world, the use of more advanced technology, and the price of the product is more expensive.
Previously, the information details the manufacturing process of AR glasses Orion, the lens of the glasses used silicon carbide produced by the United States company, it is understood that silicon carbide is a synthetic compound, expensive production, in addition, it is also used in space telescopes, electric cars and the US military radar and sensors, optical performance is better than glass. Exports to China are currently restricted. This means that Meta's first AR glasses need to be manufactured in the United States, further increasing its production costs.
The prototype Orion glasses used microLED display and silicon carbide waveguide technology, but the production yield of microLED display is relatively low, and the cost is relatively high. In order to achieve actual mass production of AR glasses, Meta plans to use degraded components - LCoS display and glass waveguide. LCoS technology, while not as advanced as microLED, is less costly and can be used as a transition solution. In addition, at the same time, the wristband and computing disk, which are essential accessories for the AR glasses, will be produced in China and Taiwan.
In addition, Meta AR glasses will be assembled at a former HP printer factory near the Oregon-Washington border, and manufacturing in the U.S. is also an advantage for Meta because of the facility's relative proximity to the Redmond Reality Lab campus.
For the first AR glasses, Meta has been under a lot of pressure. On the one hand, unlike virtual reality (VR), the attention of augmented reality technology is not high, and it remains to be seen whether mainstream users in the current market will truly accept AR glasses, even if AR glasses become popular, Meta will take at least a decade to profit from XR bets. On the other hand, Meta's augmented reality business also faces problems such as developing its own AR chip and AR operating system.
At the same time, Apple, Google, Snap and other tech companies are racing to develop augmented reality glasses products, and despite establishing an early lead in virtual reality hardware, Meta has also faced considerable competition in the past few years, and Apple is also stepping up production of the Vision Pro, a head-mounted spatial computing device. In preparation for the release in February, this trans-era space computing device is bound to cause a lot of shock in the industry.
It is understood that Meta invests more than $10 billion a year in the development of Metaverse, of which about half of the investment is for unreleased augmented reality products, and the reason for spending a lot of capital and time in the direction of augmented reality layout, because AR brings Meta more opportunities to expand its huge advertising business. "I think it's easy to imagine how ads could appear in space when you put on AR glasses," said Alex Himel, vice president of AR. He added that the glasses will be able to "track conversations," meaning they are more capable of delivering ultra-precise ads than Meta's existing VR devices.
There is no doubt that this costly Meta "Orion" AR glasses prototype will come out in the coming year, a part of the user is very likely to be able to start to experience this product next year, as Bosworth said is so far the most advanced consumer electronics device, is still to be verified by the market. Although the AR glasses prototype will come out next year, but there is still some time from consumer products, Meta's goal is to launch AR glasses products around 2027, for ordinary users, want to experience the "Orion" AR glasses still need to wait a long time, but, Under the trend that AR glasses have the potential to become the next generation of computing platforms, the launch of Meta "Orion" AR glasses prototype next year is also expected to attract widespread attention from the technology community.