The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have been named one of Oprah's favorite things and are gaining traction: At one point in July, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said:Demand is still outstripping our ability to build them.”
While Meta has a request, with more than 700,000 pairs of Ray Ban Metas are soldan industry competitor is looking at the same space.
Related: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Goes From Big Tech to Nail Tech in New Video: 'Leveling Up'
According to a new Bloomberg reportApple is internally exploring entering the field of smart glasses with its own products. The effort, internally dubbed Atlas, began last week when Apple's Product Systems Quality Team asked select Apple employees to join “a prospective study of current market smartglass users.” The effort is part of “product testing and development,” Apple wrote in the email.
Apple is planning more focus groups in the “near future” to identify what its employees like about the smart glasses already on the market, according to Bloomberg. Apple intended to keep the project secret.
This wouldn't be the first category where Meta and Apple's offerings overlap. Apple released the $3,500 Vision Pro in February; the product is in the same virtual and augmented reality headset category as Meta's much cheaper $500 Quest 3. or comparison at CNET between the Quest 3 and the Apple Vision Pro shows that the Quest 3 is a stronger gaming and fitness system, while the Vision Pro comes out on top for work tasks.
Related: She cold emailed Meta judging the Ray-Bans. Now she heads the Apparel Division.
The $299 Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses come equipped with a camera for taking photos and videos, a Meta AI Assistant for answering questions starting with “Hey Meta,” and audio for making phone calls, listening to music, and to send voice text messages.
Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Meta wants one more day to go beyond glasses. At Meta Connect in September, Zuckerberg unveiled the first Orion prototypesmart glasses that bring holograms or 3D avatars into your field of vision. Orion glasses, complete with a neural interface wristband that detects thoughts by sensing impulses on your skin, left early testers “stunned” Zuckerberg said.
“These are the first glasses that are controlled by a wristband that captures thoughts,” Zuckerberg said at the time.
It remains to be seen how Apple intends to compete with Meta on the smart glasses front — but Monday's Bloomberg report indicates that Apple is paying attention to the products.