Meta and Ray-Ban owner EssilorLuxottica are discussing doubling or even tripling their smart glasses production capacity, Bloomberg reports.
Just under a year ago, when revealing that 2 million units of Ray-Ban Meta glasses had been sold so far, EssilorLuxottica told investors that it planned to increase annual production capacity to 10 million units by the end of 2026, citing the “great success” of the product.
Then, in its Q3 investor call in October, EssilorLuxottica said that its smart glasses business was doing “exceptionally well”, to the point where it now accounted for more than a third of its revenue growth, telling investors that it was accelerating the timeline for the 10 million annual production capacity.
What Is EssilorLuxottica?
The French-Italian giant EssilorLuxottica is the largest eyewear company in the world by far. It owns iconic brands like Ray-Ban, Oakley, Oliver Peoples, and Persol, and has exclusive licenses with major fashion companies like Prada, Armani, Burberry, and Chanel. It also owns Sunglass Hut, and has more than 18,000 retail stores in total worldwide.
Meta has so far partnered with EssilorLuxottica for six smart glasses products:
Now, Bloomberg reports that Meta and EssilorLuxottica are discussing doubling this production target to 20 million annual units, with the possibility of tripling it to 30 million if future demand justifies it.
According to Bloomberg, Meta is hoping to build on its lead in the smart glasses market and expand its footprint before competition from Apple and Google arrives.
Google has repeatedly teased smart glasses with a HUD at events like TED and I/O, and announced last year that it’s working with the eyewear companies Gentle Monster and Warby Parker on Gemini smart glasses, and will work with Kering Eyewear in the future. Multiple South Korean news outlets have reported that Samsung plans to launch a Meta Ray-Ban Display competitor this year, powered by Google software, a similar strategy to the Galaxy XR headset.
Meanwhile, in October Bloomberg reported that Apple moved staff off the cheaper and lighter Vision headset project to prioritize shipping smart glasses sooner. Apple’s first glasses could be revealed as soon as this year ahead of a release in 2027, the report claimed.
Meta Closes Deadpool VR, Asgard’s Wrath & Resident Evil 4 VR Studios
Meta has shut down Twisted Pixel Games (Deadpool VR), Sanzaru Games (Asgard’s Wrath), and Armature Studio (Resident Evil 4 VR), UploadVR can confirm.
Meta and EssilorLuxottica’s reported discussions come as Meta laid off over 10% of Reality Labs, its smart glasses, VR, and “metaverse” division, including the entirety of three of its VR game studios. The company previously confirmed “shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward AI glasses and Wearables”, and reducing spending on VR content to increase investment in smart glasses production capacity seems to be this strategy in action.
