Social media giant Facebook is silently making progress in its development of hardware products with augmented reality implications. One of Facebook’s in-development hardware products is now virtually set for the unveiling, going by what Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, hinted during an earnings call he made this week.

Facebook CEO Zuckerberg confirmed that the Ray-Ban smart glasses would be launched soon. There had been much speculation surrounding the projected 2021 unveiling of the device. While the plans on a 2021 launch of the device may have been significantly affected by the coronavirus pandemic, it seems that the overall outlook and expectations remain optimistic for a launch, possibly within early 2022. However, Zuckerberg’s announcement could indicate a possible Q4 2021 launch of the device.

Facebook is developing the Ray-Ban smart glasses in partnership with EssilorLuxottica. According to Facebook, the device has a decent form factor that affords the user to do various excellent tasks. The glasses could be a precursor of truly augmented reality (AR) glasses. Hence they are not classified as AR devices. Smart glasses do not need an integrated display so that they could be controlled via a paired device (smartphone, tablet, etc). Several gaps are still not fully known about the Ray-Ban concerning their functionality and features.

Facebook is seemingly making steady progress in its pursuit of developing devices that support augmented reality. The Ray-Ban smart glasses are a strong step in this direction. The goal of the social media giant is to have full AR glasses in the foreseeable future.

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