What are AR glasses?

AR smart glasses vary in shape, size and design, but the thing they all have in common is the enhancement of reality with digital overlays. There are plenty of reasons people might want to augment their actual experiences with helpful information and data. For instance, imagine sitting in the stands at a football game. While you watch the action, your AR glasses display pertinent stats, scores and player data. Likewise, if you’re walking down the street looking for a place to eat, your AR glasses can display local options, including restaurant ratings and reviews.

How do AR glasses work?

There is a wide range of functionality in AR glasses, but in general, the devices use a front facing camera in concert with software that can recognize certain anchors and landmarks. For instance, if you use AR software designed to help you decorate your home, the software will recognize things like the frame of a window, or the corner where two walls come together. With that data, the software can generate images of curtains and potted plants and “place” them in your field of view by projecting them onto the lens of the glasses on your face.

Here are just a few examples of functionality that different companies are working on: With the integration of a microphone, AR glasses can communicate with Alexa or Siri for voice controlled searches, the results popping up right before your eyes. Using simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithms, your smart AR glasses can gauge the area around you so that you can use hand gestures to control the images you see.

Having message alerts that appear discreetly in the field of view that can be noted and dismissed without the interruption of pulling out your phone. With integrated GPS technology, virtual arrows will float up into view and help you find your way so that you never get lost again.

If it seems amazing that functionality like this could come in a package as slim and lightweight as a pair of glasses, consider that all of this and more is already being integrated into smart contact lenses.

Apple AR glasses

AR transforms how you work, learn, play, shop, and connect with the world around you. It’s the perfect way to visualize things that would be impossible or impractical to see otherwise.

Apple has the world’s largest AR platform, with hundreds of millions of AR‑enabled devices, as well as thousands of AR apps on the App Store. And because Apple hardware and software are designed from the ground up for AR, there is no better way to experience AR.

Communicate with your friends in fun and delightful ways with AR effects in Snapchat. With the LiDAR Scanner, watch your space transform into a magical forest complete with grass on the floor, flowers on the table, vines on the wall, and a never-ending starry sky.

AR Quick Look gives you instant access to AR experiences right from Safari, Messages, and Mail. Preview an item in your own space and experience it in AR before you make a purchase from a website.

Museum Alive uses the power of AR to bring extinct creatures back to life. Guided by Sir David Attenborough, you’ll discover ancient creatures and photorealistic 3D versions of the fossils they left behind.

VR vs AR

VR gives you access to a 360-degree simulated world which you enter fully as a 3D representation of yourself: An avatar. You can move through the space, interacting with it, picking up and moving objects, and talking to anyone else you meet there.Take the virtual meeting room as one example of VR. It can mirror the physical workspace to make it feel familiar and gives employees the chance to gather for regular status updates, remote town halls or special events, just like they would in real life.

An AR scenario involves blended reality. Rather than a full digital immersion, you remain grounded in the real world. Virtual elements such as graphics, text, video or audio, are superimposed onto the physical environment.

Examples of AR include giving customers access to additional product information or the chance to see an object in situ in their own home. According to Deloitte, 61% of shoppers say they’d choose stores using AR over those that don’t and 71% said they’d shop more often with AR apps.

For many, owning glasses like Iron Man’s has been a dream—one that is now becoming a reality with the introduction of Orion AI Glasses by Meta.

A Decade in the Making

Meta’s groundbreaking innovations have redefined possibilities for AI, AR, and the next generation of computing with the release of Orion. After nearly a decade of development, Orion AI glasses promise an unprecedented AR experience.

Seamless Connection

Orion AI glasses make staying connected easier than ever. Imagine video calling friends and family as life-size avatars appear beside you in the room, all hands-free, allowing freedom of movement without the hassle of holding a device. Quickly view and respond to messages without breaking your flow, making multitasking effortless.

Effortless Multitasking

Designed to integrate technology seamlessly throughout your day, Orion provides a large field of view supported by a robust compute stack, enabling hands-free multitasking. Multiple panels are comfortably placed in your field of vision, helping you manage your busy lifestyle with ease.

Collaborative Presence

Orion allows you to manipulate digital objects and create 3D experiences anywhere, anytime. These AR experiences let you interact with virtual content in your environment, whether with a friend across the street or across the globe.

Unveiling Orion

On September 25, 2024, at Meta’s Connect event, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Orion—the first true pair of AR glasses, previously codenamed Project Nazare.That was a prototype of AR glasses.In 2027 AR glasses will be in a sale. Featuring an industry-leading field of view, silicon carbide lenses, intricate waveguides, and uLED projectors, Orion represents Meta’s most advanced and polished prototype to date. Meta is now optimizing the product and working to reduce costs, aiming to deliver a scalable consumer device that will revolutionize how people interact with the world.

The Vision Becomes Reality

“We are building AR glasses.” These five words, spoken five years ago, set the vision for a future where information is seamlessly integrated into the physical world. Today, Meta proudly declares: “We have built AR glasses.” With the most advanced AR display ever assembled and custom silicon, Orion enables powerful AR experiences with minimal power consumption and weight.

Why AR Glasses Matter

AR glasses are pivotal to the next leap in human-oriented computing. They allow for digital experiences that surpass the limitations of smartphone screens. With large holographic displays, the physical world becomes a canvas for placing 2D and 3D content anywhere. Orion integrates contextual AI, sensing and understanding the environment to anticipate and proactively meet users’ needs. Lightweight and suitable for both indoor and outdoor use, these glasses also display real eyes and expressions, making them ideal for authentic interactions.

Cutting-Edge Technology

Orion boasts an approximate 70-degree field of view, the largest in any AR glasses form factor to date. This immersive experience supports multitasking windows, big-screen entertainment, and life-sized holograms that blend seamlessly with your physical surroundings. Instead of traditional glass, the lenses are crafted from silicon carbide, a lightweight material that eliminates optical artifacts and stray light, while providing a high refractive index essential for a wide field of view.

The waveguides feature intricate, nanoscale 3D structures that diffract light effectively, and the uLED projectors are a new, ultra-small display technology known for power efficiency. Unlike other AR glasses or MR headsets, Orion allows you to see each other’s real eyes and expressions, enabling a shared and realistic experience.