These shades have serious specs appeal.
Wearable tech isn’t exactly favored by the fashion-forward — but Meta’s new line of smart glasses are certainly more chic than geek.
Meta has partnered with Ray-Ban to produce the shades, which come in the classic Wayfarer frame and will hit stores Oct. 17.
Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the high-tech specs at the 2023 Meta Connect conference in Menlo Park, California, Wednesday, and is no doubt hoping they become the next “it” accessory.
While the Facebook founder isn’t known as a style guru, Meta has brought in the big guns to try and turn the glasses into a cool and coveted commodity.
F1 driver Charles Leclerc, 25, is the new face of smart glasses, and the sportsman has the potential to make wearable tech super hot with young consumers.
The Gen-Z driver, who boasts 12 million followers on Instagram, shared a slickly produced video of himself wearing the shades after Zuckerberg’s unveiling.
“Game changing,” Leclerc captioned the video, which showed him wearing the shades while taking a spin in a fire red Ferrari.
A second video showed the sports superstar putting on the smart glasses, before he captured vision with two tiny cameras installed in their frame.
“See the track through @charles_leclerc’s eyes with the new #RayBanMeta smart glasses,” a caption for that post read.
Fans flocked to the comments section saying they were eager to snap up the shades, which retail from $299.
Meta launched its first line of smart glasses last year, but say the second-generation model features far more impressive tech and a subtler and sleeker design.
The glasses feature two ultrawide 12 MP cameras, which allow wearers to record 1080p videos up to a minute in length. Wearers will also be able to livestream footage to Instagram and Facebook.
The new accessory also features freakishly advanced AI capabilities, including the ability to identify places and objects that people are seeing in real time — and instant translations of foreign languages.
“Smart glasses are the ideal form factor for you to let AI assistants see what you’re seeing and hear what you’re hearing,” Zuckerberg said.
“Advances in AI allow us to create different [applications] and personas that help us accomplish different things,” the Facebook founder said. “Smart glasses are going to eventually allow us to bring all of this together into a stylish form factor that we can wear.”