Meta and Oakley Partner on Smart Glasses - Latest News

Meta and Oakley Unveil New Smart Glasses

Following extensive speculation, Meta has formally revealed its forthcoming smart glasses, developed in collaboration with Oakley. These new glasses boast a battery life that is twice as long as that of the previous Meta Ray-Ban models.

Enhanced Capabilities and Design

The devices are capable of recording video in 3K resolution. The design is based on Oakley’s HSTN (pronounced “how-stuhn”) framework, positioning these glasses as Meta’s inaugural offering specifically designed for both athletes and enthusiasts.

Pricing and Availability

A limited-edition Oakley Meta HSTN model, featuring gold accents, will be available for preorder starting July 11th, priced at $499. The remaining models within the collection will begin rolling out later this summer, with a starting price of $399, as stated by Meta.

Key Features and Functionality

These smart glasses incorporate a forward-facing camera, alongside integrated open-ear speakers and microphones. Users can utilize the glasses for listening to audio, capturing photographs, and managing phone calls.

Meta AI integration allows for hands-free interaction. You can pose questions like “Hey Meta, what is the current wind speed?” or simply command “Hey Meta, start recording a video.”

Furthermore, the glasses can provide information about your surroundings and facilitate real-time language translation through Meta AI.

Battery Life and Charging

The Oakley Meta HSTN glasses offer up to eight hours of operation under typical usage conditions and can maintain a standby time of up to 19 hours. A quick charge feature allows the battery to reach 50% capacity in just 20 minutes.

A dedicated charging case is included, providing an additional 48 hours of power on the move.

Style and Customization Options

The glasses are offered in six distinct frame and lens color combinations: warm grey with ruby lenses, black with polar black lenses, brown smoke with polar deep water lenses, black with amethyst lenses, clear with grey lenses, and black with clear lenses.

Prescription lenses are available as an optional add-on. Select models feature Oakley Prizm Lens technology, designed to enhance visibility in varying light and weather conditions, optimizing performance.

Geographic Availability

Initial availability of the Oakley Meta HSTN will be limited to the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark.

Meta intends to expand the launch to include Mexico, India, and the United Arab Emirates later in the year.

Partnership and Sales Figures

Meta emphasizes that these new glasses represent the latest development in a long-term collaboration with EssilorLuxottica, the parent company of Oakley and Ray-Bans. EssilorLuxottica reports that over two million Meta Ray-Ban pairs have been sold to date, according to their FY2024 financial results.