EssilorLuxottica, the company behind Ray-Ban, has announced a new "long-term agreement" with Meta.
The continued partnership will mean Ray-Ban and Meta will collaborate over the next "decade" to "develop multi-generational smart eyewear products".
Smart spectacles and sunglasses haven't really taken off as much as we might have expected , but there is one pair that has been a little more popular than most – the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
Looking like a traditional pair of Ray-Bans but with built-in speakers, cameras in the corners of the frames, and now smart features like Meta's AI, the appeal of these smart glasses is that they don't look like smart glasses at all. You really can't tell unless you look closely and that's the beauty.
Now it looks like we will see additional pairs in future, with Meta having signed a "long term agreement" with EssilorLuxottica – the company behind the Ray-Ban brand.
In a press release spotted by 9to5Google, the glasses manufacturer said: "EssilorLuxottica has extended its partnership with Meta Platforms by entering into a new long term agreement, under which the parties will collaborate into the next decade to develop multi-generational smart eyewear products.
"The two companies have been collaborating successfully since 2019, resulting in two generations of Ray-Ban-branded smart glasses that broke the barriers to adoption and redefined the potential for wearables in consumers' lives."
Of course, the press release doesn't mention any details on when any of the next "multi-generational smart eyewear products" will appear, but the latest generation appeared in September 2023 so they have been around for a year.
Meta is holding its Meta Connect 2024 event at the end of September where it is expected to reveal the much-rumoured Meta Quest 3S, but it's not clear if a new pair of smart glasses is also on the agenda.
For now, this news is more about the fact that we will see more smart glasses from Meta and Ray-Ban in the future and based on the current models, that's no bad thing.
