Mark Zuckerberg says a future without smart glasses is ‘hard to imagine’

Mark Zuckerberg spoke at Meta’s about his ambitions for Meta’s AI smart glasses business Profit 4th quarter 2025 call on Wednesday.

After pivoting its Reality Labs investments away from the metaverse, Meta is doubling down on its production of AI wearables, as well as its own AI models.

“Billions of people wear glasses or contact lenses for vision correction. And I think we’re in a moment similar to the advent of smartphones, and it was clearly only a matter of time before all those flip phones became smartphones,” Zuckerberg said. “It’s hard to imagine a world in a few years where most of the glasses people wear aren’t AI glasses.”

He added that sales of Meta’s glasses tripled last year, and he believes they are “among the fastest growing consumer electronics products in history.”

Take Zuckerberg’s view with a grain of salt. After all, he also thought we were going to go to work and hang out with our friends in the metaverse – legs optional – and that didn’t work out.

But based on how the tech sector’s biggest players are spending their money and effort, it looks like AI glasses are poised for a big moment, even if not on the scale of the smartphone.

Google is expected to launch a line of smart glasses this year, following a $150 million deal with Warby Parker. Apple is also reportedly planning to unveil smart glasses in the next two years, shifting some of its staff to that project rather than working on a lighter Vision Pro. according to Bloomberg. Meanwhile, Snap announced Tuesday that it would spin its AR glasses, Specs, into a new subsidiary to enable “greater operational focus and alignment.”

Even OpenAI, a company that hasn’t yet ventured into hardware, is pursuing AI wearables, though it seems more focused on something like an AI pin or earbuds, rather than glasses. Apple is also rumored to be working on an AI device the size of AirTag, although these efforts will hopefully turn out better than the Humane AI Pin.

For the time being, Meta is at the forefront of bringing smart glasses to the market, with several models already available for sale. That includes Oakley’s smart glasses designed to be worn while exercising, which is the most promising use we’ve personally seen for these devices yet.