In the early days of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and his team famously adopted the motto “Move fast and break things.” Posters with the phrase reportedly adorned the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters, alongside other, similar sentiments like “Done is better than perfect,” and “Fail quicker.” The focus for the young company was clear: Being first was more important than getting it right first time.
As the company grew, Zuckerberg—in an interview with WIRED— started to distance himself from, or at least temper, those mantras. But with Wednesday’s announcement of the Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses, it feels like some of that old mentality might have started to creep back in.
“Our goal is to build great-looking glasses that deliver personal superintelligence,” said Zuckerberg yesterday at the very start of the Meta Connect event. He then immediately outlined some “clear values” that Meta holds sacrosanct for smart glasses. Number-one for Zuckerberg was “they need to be great glasses first” with “refined aesthetics” that “shave every millimeter” from the hardware. No doubt Meta has shaved every millimeter it can from its new flagship specs, but in a rush to fully realize these next-gen glasses it looks like Meta has broken that primary value right out the gate.
I got a chance to demo the Meta Ray-Ban Display, ahead of Meta Connect, at a preview event in London. The big news is they feature a small display built into the right lens that gives users visual prompts and guidance. They come with a wristband that understands hand gestures, which can be used to interact with the things displayed on the screen. Meta has labeled them the “world’s most advanced AI glasses,” and having tried them, it‘s easy to agree. They are undoubtedly impressive, and I think most people who get to try them will like them.
The display appears in the right lens.
Courtesy of Meta
The whole experience—from the quality of the display itself, to the gesture controls and the on-glasses capabilities—all feels polished and intuitive, particularly considering this is Meta’s first commercial stab at such a product.
But here’s the problem: As impressive as they are, I still wouldn’t buy them. Outside of tech fans and early adopters, I don’t think a lot of people will. Not this iteration, anyway. And that’s not even because of the arguably punchy $800 price tag.
The thing that truly lets them down is their aesthetic, and that’s not what I expected from the company that made such a success of the original Ray-Ban Metas because of their design. While the originals (and their just-announced successors) basically look like Ray-Ban glasses, these, in what can only be described as a glaring faux pas, are far from being fashion-first. They look like smart glasses, but the old kind you don’t really want to be seen wearing.
The chunk factor cannot be ignored.
Courtesy of Verity Burns
Oh, there is a whiff of the Wayfarer about the Meta Ray-Ban Display; you can tell the intention is there to try and replicate the success of the most popular Ray-Ban style. But somehow distant alarm bells are ringing. Even though “statement glasses” are fashionable, these are just a bit too chunky to blend in.
At a glance, you can tell that something is going on with them. We’ve arrived in the uncanny valley of smart glasses, where the subtle bulges and added girth of the frames demand your attention, but not in a good way.
Interestingly, there is a subtle nod to this shift in aesthetics in the naming structure. While the original Ray-Ban Meta glasses lead with the Ray-Ban branding in their name, the Meta Ray-Ban Display switch that focus around. Which of the two brands made that call hasn’t been made clear, but these are Meta’s self-branded, tech-first glasses, and that feels a like misstep, especially considering the experience Meta already has in the market.
The new Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses on a human model.
Courtesy of Meta
In her recent piece for WIRED, Amy Francombe notes how vitally important aesthetics are in creating mass acceptance of products such as this: “In the world of wearable tech, aesthetics have killed more ideas than poor battery life. Frames are fashion. No one wants to wear a prototype on their face.” Too right.
Meta knows how to build the platforms, she adds, but not necessarily the products people want to wear. It’s why Essilor Luxottica, the company that owns Ray-Ban, has proved such a valuable ally in this journey so far—so valuable in fact, that Meta invested $3.5 billion for a minority stake in the business back in July.
Having shown off its prototype Orion AR glasses at Meta Connect last year, the announcement of Meta Ray-Ban Display this year feels like a forced attempt to solidify the company’s position as the leader of the product category, but by embracing the old mantras of its founding company and moving first.
This creates an aesthetic compromise, where the tech is clearly not quite ready to fit into the tried and tested formula that Meta, and Essilor Luxottica, knows sells in its millions.
The original Ray-Ban Meta glasses are sleek and fashionable—and look very much like regular glasses.
Courtesy of Meta
But perhaps Meta isn’t ready for that anyway. We know that the Meta Ray-Ban Display are going to launch initially in the US only, and in limited numbers. An in-store fitting requirement will also slow adoption, as will a high price that makes them far from a spontaneous purchase.
With the Meta Ray-Ban Display, it feels like Meta is dipping its toe in, testing the water, while simultaneously bragging about what it’s capable of and seeing if customers will swallow this compromise of form and function.
It’s a bold move for a company that has already proved the model for success, and yet so quickly is actively choosing to go against it. Yes, the Display glasses look fine—we’re nowhere near Google Glass or Snapchat Spectacles territory here—but I would definitely feel self-conscious walking around with these on my face in a way I don’t in Ray-Ban Meta.
The good news is that when the tech does catch up, and the design aligns more with what buyers have come to expect from the Ray-Ban Meta partnership (in that order), the experience on the glasses will already be waiting. As will the consumers that so loved the original Ray-Ban Metas.
