Five years ago, Facebook announced to the world its plans to develop AR glasses. The company emphasized the importance of allowing people to access a wealth of information while remaining present in the physical world. Today, the Facebook unveiled Orion, which is purported to be the most advanced pair of AR glasses ever created. Orion is designed to seamlessly integrate the physical and virtual worlds, prioritizing the user experience and aiming to enhance presence, connectivity, and empowerment in the world.

That’s why today, we’re unveiling Orion, which we believe is the most advanced pair of AR glasses ever made. Orion bridges the physical and virtual worlds, putting people at the center so they can be more present, connected and empowered in the world.

Why Augmented Reality Glasses?

There are three primary reasons why AR glasses are crucial for unlocking the next major advancement in human-centered computing.

They enable digital experiences that are unconstrained by the limits of a smartphone screen. With large holographic displays, you can use the physical world as your canvas, placing 2D and 3D content and experiences anywhere you want.
They seamlessly integrate contextual AI that can sense and understand the world around you in order to anticipate and proactively address your needs.
They’re lightweight and great for both indoor and outdoor use, and they let people see each other’s face, eyes and expressions.

That’s the north star our industry has been building towards: a product combining the convenience and immediacy of wearables with a large display, high-bandwidth input and contextualized AI in a form that people feel comfortable wearing in their daily lives.

The Evolution of Smart Glasses

Ray-Ban’s Meta glasses have shown how they can give people hands-free access to important aspects of their digital lives without needing to use their hands. With these glasses, people can interact with a smart AI assistant, stay connected with friends, and capture important moments, all without having to take out their phone.

Yet while Ray-Ban Meta opened up an entirely new category of display-less glasses super-charged by AI, the XR industry has long dreamt of true AR glasses – a product that combines the benefits of a large holographic display and personalized AI assistance in a comfortable, all-day wearable form factor. Orion rises to the challenge.

Groundbreaking AR Display in an Unparalleled Form

Facebook has been working diligently for several years to condense the remarkable spatial experiences offered by VR and MR headsets into a pair of lightweight, stylish glasses. Overcoming the challenges of perfecting the form factor, delivering holographic displays, creating compelling AR experiences, and developing new human-computer interaction (HCI) paradigms all in one cohesive product has been one of the most formidable tasks the industry has ever faced.

Despite initially believing they had less than a 10% chance of success, Facebook has now unveiled Orion, a remarkable feat of miniaturization. The components have been scaled down to a fraction of a millimeter, requiring dozens of innovations to achieve a contemporary design suitable for everyday wear. Orion boasts the largest field of view in the smallest AR glasses form to date, enabling truly immersive use cases such as multitasking windows, big-screen entertainment, and life-size holograms of people.

What sets Orion apart is its unmistakable resemblance to a pair of glasses in both appearance and feel, complete with transparent lenses. Unlike current MR headsets or other AR glasses, Orion allows wearers to maintain eye contact and share their experiences with those around them.

Augmented Reality Experiences

Of course, as with any piece of hardware, Orion is only as good as the things you can do with it. And while it’s still early days, the experiences afforded by Orion are an exciting glimpse of what’s to come.

They have a smart assistant, Meta AI, running on Orion. It understands what they are looking at in the physical world and can help with useful visualizations. This allows them to open up their refrigerator and ask for a recipe based on what’s inside, or video call a friend while adjusting a digital family calendar as they wash the dishes.