:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-2173579243-e66ef2ae634546d38415a63c578e19f9.jpg "Meta Wants AI-Powered Smart Glasses to Drive New Growth")
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/GettyImages-2173579243-e66ef2ae634546d38415a63c578e19f9.jpg)
Key Takeaways
- Meta Platforms is expected to showcase its latest AI-powered glasses at a developer conference this week.
- HSBC analysts said the move could help position Meta as an early leader in a new category of devices with the potential to drive growth.
- More smart glasses are expected from Apple, Amazon and other competitors in the coming years.
Meta Platforms is looking to AI-powered glasses to drive growth, which some Wall Street analysts said could help position the tech giant as an early leader in a new category of devices.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg is widely expected to showcase Meta’s (META) latest AI glasses, called “Hypernova,” at its “Connect” developer conference Wednesday and Thursday. (The keynote address is set to start at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, Register for the livestream here.) Meta’s existing glasses have shown some signs of success, with sales of its Ray-Ban AI glasses more than tripling in the first half of the year from a year ago.
The Hypernova glasses, developed with Ray-Ban and Oakley owner EssilorLuxottica, are viewed as a shift in Meta’s AI product strategy away from virtual reality headsets. They come with more smart glasses expected from competitors: Apple (AAPL), South Korea’s Samsung, and Amazon (AMZN) plan to launch their own versions next year and beyond, HSBC analysts wrote Tuesday.
Will Smart Glasses Be a Pathway to ‘Superintelligence’?
Zuckerberg during a conference call in July said he sees the AI glasses becoming a major opportunity for the company and the “main way that we integrate superintelligence into our day-to-day lives,” according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense.
“Smart glasses are a nascent market with a potential to become, if not ‘the,’ then at least ‘one’ computing platform of reference for the coming decades,” bullish HSBC analysts led by Nicolas Cote-Colisson wrote.
More technological progress may be required before the glasses can compete with functionalities currently offered by smartphones, HSBC wrote. Bank of America analysts, meanwhile, have raised concerns that Hypernova’s projected $800 price tag might be too high for mass adoption, though they said it could help bridge a gap “between early adopters and mainstream consumers.”
Wall Street is broadly bullish on Meta’s stock, with a majority of analysts tracked by Visible Alpha calling the stock a “buy.” Their mean target, $874, would suggest 15% upside from Tuesday’s close at $779. The stock has added a third of its value in 2025.
