It looks like Meta’s smart glasses lineup is about to expand beyond Ray-Ban. A new verified Instagram page called “Oakley | Meta” popped up this week, teasing a joint product launch scheduled for Friday, June 20. Here’s what to expect.
This partnership has been in the rumor pipeline for a while now. Back in January, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Meta was preparing a new set of smart glasses under the Oakley brand, aimed at cyclists and other athletes.
Unlike the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, which focus on casual, everyday use with a camera discreetly built into the temple, the Oakley model is said to feature a center-mounted camera, something more in line with action cams like the GoPro, designed for sporty, on-the-move recording.
The smart glasses race is heating up
By all accounts, Meta’s Ray-Bans have turned out to be a surprise hit. Earlier this year, the company announced it had shipped over 2 million units, with plans to scale production to 10 million units annually by the end of 2026. The timing, coinciding with the broader AI assistant boom, has definitely helped.
Google has taken notice, too. The company recently announced new smart glasses partnerships with Warby Parker, Gentle Monster, and Kering Eyewear, all running on Android XR.
Meanwhile, Apple seems to be fast-tracking its own smart glasses project. Bloomberg recently reported that Apple has accelerated its own plans for AI-powered smart glasses, now targeting a launch by the end of 2026.
According to the report, Apple will begin producing large quantities of prototypes with suppliers later this year, with the project being led by the Vision Products Group, the same team behind Vision Pro.
In terms of features, Apple’s first-gen smart glasses are expected to lean heavily into AI-powered assistive functions like real-world scene analysis, voice input via Siri, phone calls, music playback, turn-by-turn directions, and live translation.
The hardware will reportedly include cameras, microphones, and speakers, drawing direct comparisons to Meta’s Ray-Bans (though one source quoted by Bloomberg described Apple’s take as “similar to the Meta product but better made.”)
9to5Mac’s Take
The wearables market is shifting fast, and Apple doesn’t want to miss the boat twice. With Meta selling millions of smart glasses already, and Google and others jumping in, Apple had little choice but to pull its timeline forward. Still, “by the end of 2026” feels like an eternity away.
If done right, Apple’s eventual smart glasses could enjoy the same tight iPhone integration that helped make the Apple Watch and AirPods a success. But with the Oakley | Meta launch coming this week, and rivals also accelerating their plans, the clock is ticking, and Apple’s margin for error is growing slimmer by the day.
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