Growing sales and popularity of smart glasses are despite public backlash against the technology over privacy concerns.
Meta is to introduce smart glasses without cameras amid ongoing public concerns over privacy violations made possible by the use of its camera-equipped variants.
The new ‘Ray-Ban Meta Audio’ models will be without a previously standard feature for all of the company’s smart glasses, enabling better battery life and a slimmer form factor, according to Meta.
The camera-free audio glasses had been in the works for about two years, Bloomberg reported Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth as saying. He added that the company was “a little bit fortunate” to already have an audio-only product in development, given the “privacy narrative playing out around glasses globally”.
He told the publication that Meta takes privacy concerns “seriously”, and would continue to do so.
Last week, French prosecutors launched a criminal probe into suspected sexual harassment committed using smart glasses.
Reuters reported that at least one investigation was underway in Paris following complaints over the filming of women nonconsensually using smart glasses to be posted to social media.
Specific brands or company names were not mentioned by officials.
AI-equipped smart glasses accounted for 88pc of total shipments in the sector as of H2 last year, while Meta held more than 80pc of total global smart glasses shipments.
The sharp growth in sales and popularity of these types of glasses comes despite public backlash against the technology, with people highlighting issues around covert recording and sexual harassment.
“My lived experience walking around with [smart glasses] has been people pretty enthusiastic about the product,” Bosworth told Bloomberg. “Then there’s an extremely online concern. I’m not saying it’s not a real concern.”
Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the camera-free glasses in a keynote presentation at the company’s annual Meta Connect showcase in California yesterday (23 September). He said the new audio-focused glasses also qualify as US FDA-certified hearing aids, designed for people with mild to moderate hearing loss.
Other product updates focused on VR-geared smart glasses and the customisable agentic AI avatar Muse.
In an analysis of the keynote presentation, principal analyst at Forrester Kate Winick said: “Despite user privacy concerns, the introduction of audio glasses barely acknowledged the problem that drove their creation. Instead, Meta focused on the fact that Meta glasses are now an FDA-cleared hearing enhancement device and highlighted the positive features of the glasses, including longer battery life, slimmer profile and Muse functionality.”
She noted that Meta “introduced no new features that support privacy for the public”, and suggested that the company “is hoping that a feature-rich product environment and user-friendly experience will simply drown privacy concerns”.
Earlier this week, Dutch deep-tech company Morphotonics raised more than €40m in Series B funding for scaling its technology that helps build AI glasses.
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