Facebook parent Meta is launching its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in India on May 19, the company announced on May 13, marking its first hardware push in its largest user market, with over a billion users across its suite of apps.
The glasses, which come integrated with Meta AI assistant, are currently available for pre-order on Ray-Ban.com and the collection will be available at Ray-Ban.com and leading optical and sunglass stores across the country from May 19. The smart glasses are currently available across a range of styles, with prices starting at Rs 29,900 and going up to Rs 35,700.
Meta had first announced in April that it will bring its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses to India, Mexico, and the United Arab Emirates, as part of the social networking giant's efforts to make its smart glasses available to consumers across the world.
The launch also comes shortly after the company introduced a standalone mobile app for Meta AI, which replaced the previous View companion app for the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. The app features a dedicated tab that allows users to manage their glasses, as well as import and share photos and videos. People can also ask Meta AI in the app to add, remove, or change parts of the image.
"Glasses have emerged as the most exciting new hardware category of the AI era, and Ray-Ban Meta glasses have led the way in defining what’s possible. To integrate all our most powerful AI experiences, we’re merging the new Meta AI app with the Meta View companion app for Ray-Ban Meta glasses" Meta said at the time.
In some countries, users will be able to switch from interacting with Meta AI on their glasses to the app. They can start a conversation on their glasses and then access it in their history tab from the app or web.
The mobile app, available on iOS and Android, also comes with a new Discover feed that lets people share their AI prompts and explore how others are using the AI assistant. Additionally, it has a voice mode that makes the assistant more conversational, similar to ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode or Google Gemini's Gemini Live, a feature currently available in select markets.
What's on offer?
The Ray-Ban Meta glasses were initially introduced in September 2023, following the earlier launch of Ray-Ban Stories in 2021. Meta is working with Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica to develop these smart glasses. Last year, both the companies struck a long-term partnership to "develop multi-generational smart eyewear products over the next decade".
The smart glasses features a 12 MP camera that can shoot high-quality photos and 1080p videos of up to 60 seconds. One can also livestream to Facebook or Instagram upto 30 minutes.
With a built-in five-mic system, users can also make calls and send messages through WhatsApp and Messenger, and the ability to send and receive direct messages, photos, audio calls, and video calls through Instagram is expected soon.
Meta stated that it is expanding access to music apps such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Shazam, allowing users to ask Meta AI to play music and listen to their favorite tracks anywhere.
Last month, the company also announced the rollout of a live translation feature for all users, enabling people to have conversations with someone who speaks English, French, Italian, or Spanish and hear real-time translations through the smart glasses in their preferred language.
Smart glasses key to Meta's AI ambitions
Smart glasses are a key part of Meta's future AI ambitions. "Glasses are the ideal form factor for both AI and the Metaverse... More than a billion people worldwide wear glasses today and it seems highly likely that these will become AI glasses over the next 5 to 10 years," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during the company's earnings conference call earlier this month.
He said Ray-Ban Meta AI Glasses sales have tripled in the past year and hinted at new device launches with its partner, EssilorLuxottica, later this year, which could expand the category and introduce new technological capabilities to the glasses
Building these devices would help the company deliver the "highest quality AI and social experiences", Zuckerberg said, which will amplify its current opportunities and unlock new ones.
Earlier this month, Meta raised its full-year capital expenditure forecast for 2025 to between $64 billion and $72 billion, up from the previous range of $60 billion to $65 billion, to boost its AI efforts.
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