Can you forget how you feel about Meta?

Meta's smart glasses are selling millions of units and are now being branded as AI glasses.

In 2021, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg engaged in a private conversation on WhatsApp with an unidentified individual who urged him to prioritize child safety messaging. Zuckerberg acknowledged caring deeply about the issue but expressed his primary focus was building the metaverse, suggesting this new direction was not at odds with safety. Weeks later, the company rebranded from Facebook to Meta, signaling a pivot towards its metaverse ambitions. Despite substantial operating losses exceeding $80 billion in its Reality Labs division and recent cuts, Meta has found unexpected success in the smart glasses market. Following a less successful first-generation product, the second-generation Ray-Ban Meta glasses sold approximately 2 million units by the end of 2025, with projections for an additional 7 million by the end of 2026. This growth has positioned smart glasses as a potential vehicle for Meta's AI investments, with Zuckerberg viewing them as essential for future AI interaction. Meta currently dominates the smart glasses and AI glasses without displays markets, holding 69.2% and 76% market share respectively in Q2 2026, though profitability remains a distant prospect.

Meta's strategic pivot from the metaverse to AI-powered smart glasses demonstrates a market's rapid evolution and Meta's adaptability. The company's substantial investment in VR and AR, despite initial metaverse setbacks, has positioned it to lead in a new hardware category that integrates AI. This shift suggests a broader industry trend where hardware companies are betting on AI as the next major computing platform, leveraging augmented reality to deliver AI capabilities directly to users.

The success of Meta's smart glasses, particularly their integration with AI, indicates a potential paradigm shift in personal computing and AI interaction. While profitability remains a long-term challenge, Meta's market dominance in this emerging sector, coupled with its aggressive AI push, sets a precedent for competitors. The widespread adoption and development of AI-integrated eyewear will likely redefine how users engage with information and artificial intelligence in their daily lives, forcing other tech giants to accelerate their own AR and AI hardware strategies.