According to 36Kr, Meta (META.US) has launched its first pair of augmented reality (AR) glasses Orion, which can display a combined view of digital and real-world. In addition, Meta also released a multimodal large language model and the latest virtual reality (VR) headset device Quest 3S. After the news was announced, Meta's stock price rose by 2.2% to $575.77 in the short term, hitting a historical high; finally closed with a narrowing gain of 0.88% at $568.31.

Augmented Reality (AR) Glasses.

The AR glasses are a key step for the company's CEO Mark Zuckerberg - aiming to eventually offer an alternative to smart phones; however, it is currently only a prototype product and will not be sold to consumers in the short term.

Zuckerberg stated that Meta hopes the next version of Orion will be provided to consumers as the company's first complete AR glasses, but he did not give a specific timetable. The AR glasses, which are not for sale, will be used internally at Meta for testing and product improvement.

Orion is Meta's first "full-featured" prototype AR glasses, using a wristband component to receive users' neural signals, allowing them to control Orion with their brains, a technology stemming from the company's acquisition of CTRL-Labs in 2019.

Zuckerberg introduced that Orion can be used to play games, as well as to have video meetings with people around the world through virtual avatars. The accompanying wristband can detect neural stimuli, and the camera built into the frame can track eye movements, allowing the wearer to 'click' or 'scroll' the screen with hand gestures.

Meta's Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth, said he expects this smart glasses to become a consumer product within the next ten years, and added that the next two models of smart glasses are currently in development. Bosworth, in an interview on Wednesday, mentioned that the company aims to price these glasses so that 'not only consumers will use it, but developers will also create products for it.'

These glasses represent Meta's technological advancements and significant financial investments over the past decade. They also provide insight into Mark Zuckerberg's vision for the future of technology, with hundreds of billions of dollars spent on this in the past four years.

Meta has already been selling smart glasses under the Ray-Ban brand with cameras and speakers, but Zuckerberg believes that AR glasses will become a mobile, hands-free device that may one day become the preferred method of online communication and interaction over smart phones. If smart glasses eventually become mainstream, Meta hopes to be a major player in this emerging industry, reducing reliance on competitors like Apple and Google under Alphabet in providing products to consumers.

Bosworth mentioned in the interview, 'These things happen slowly, and then all at once. When you can replace existing use cases, people can switch quickly. Like using AR glasses to replace your phone, this will take more time.'

Although Orion was unveiled at Meta's annual Connect conference in Menlo Park, California, achieving this goal will still take several years. The company had hoped to launch this device to the public, but executives stated that it is not yet small or stylish enough. These challenges have plagued similar efforts by other tech companies like Google and Microsoft over the years. Snap released its own AR glasses earlier this month, but only for developers.

Meta executives believe that they will eventually make these glasses thinner, more powerful, and appealing enough for ordinary consumers to purchase. Meta's Senior Director of Product Management, Rahul Prasad, stated that the company's goal is to bring Orion to the market in the 'next few years' at a price comparable to 'high-end laptops or smart phones.' He said, 'Any previous attempts at augmented reality were with headsets, goggles, and helmets. We want to make glasses.'

Currently, Meta will continue to manufacture and improve these glasses internally until they are ready for public sale. Hundreds of Meta employees have been testing the Orion glasses. Now that they have been publicly unveiled, the company plans to significantly expand this group.

Unlike competing products like Apple's Vision Pro headphones, Meta's Orion glasses do not require bulky headbands or battery packs to operate. Orion has 7 cameras, with 2 for eye tracking allowing users to control the display with visible gestures. However, the best performance of the Orion is achieved when paired with the accompanying wristband. The wristband uses electromyography to detect finer hand movements, enabling users to control the glasses with subtle finger motions.

Meta has designed and produced more than 10 different computer chips, embedding them into Orion glasses as part of the company's plan to reduce glasses' energy consumption, while also reducing the heat generated by the glasses so they do not heat up when touched. Prasad mentioned that Orion's lenses are made of silicon carbide instead of glass, silicon carbide is a material popular in some electric cars, being lighter than glass and helping to bend light at extreme angles.

Although using silicon carbide is a significant breakthrough for Meta, Bosworth stated that the company is already looking for a cheaper alternative to offer the same functionality at a lower price.

Brand new Quest VR headset

Meta has also released a lower-priced Quest virtual reality headset, further convincing consumers to spend more time using virtual reality and augmented reality to play games, watch videos, and chat with others. Meta has launched the latest virtual reality (VR) headset device Quest 3S, starting at $299.

Most features of the Quest 3S headphones are the same as the existing Quest 3 device, but with less memory and a lower price by hundreds of dollars. These headphones will be available in stores starting from October 15th, while the Quest 3 is priced at $500.

Meta positions Quest 3S as a multitasking computer, planning to use this device to compete with Apple's Vision Pro.

The company stated that the 'S' in Quest 3S stands for 'Start,' implying that this device is the starting point for users to experience the VR world, and also represents Meta's expectations for this product.

Meta emphasizes that in Quest 3S, the VR Passthrough feature has been improved. When users enable this feature, the cameras on the headset will capture the real-time surroundings and transmit the images to the VR environment, allowing users to see the real-world scenes in the virtual world. Additionally, by adding a dedicated button, users can quickly switch on or off the Passthrough mode to see the surrounding real environment when needed.

Meta stated that Quest 3S has the ability for multitasking and running applications, positioning it as a computing device rather than a gaming console. Meta CEO Zuckerberg pointed out that Quest 3S is capable of performing various tasks that a regular computer can do, making it a comprehensive solution.

During the demonstration, Meta showcased the device running up to four applications simultaneously on the screen, including YouTube videos, a browser, Amazon Music, and Meta's app store.