Built-in camera, speakers for listening to music, microphone for making calls… Since 2016, some manufacturers have been offering connected sunglasses. A category of products that seems abandoned.
While waiting for the revolution in augmented reality glasses, which will allow virtual information to be superimposed in the middle of vision, some brands are betting on connected sunglasses. A very niche product category, in which we find frames equipped with sensors and Bluetooth connectivity, to be able to communicate with smartphones.
Every summer since 2016, brands have tried to sell their connected glasses. In 2023, we noticed a funny phenomenon: there is almost no advertising for these products. For good reason, there are hardly any left.
Meta and Ray-Ban, the last survivors
When Meta arrived on the connected glasses market, the creator of Facebook decided to join forces with Ray-Ban to gain credibility. Ray-Ban Stories are now available from many opticians, major retailers and on the Internet. They have become the reference connected glasses, while there were already several well-established players in this market before its arrival.
Before the Ray-Ban Stories, several famous brands like Snap (Snapchat), Bose and Huawei also offered connected glasses. Meta’s glasses were seen as their competitors, not as the benchmark on the market. Still, a big name like Ray-Ban inevitably weighs, which made us very optimistic about their chances of success.
A year after the arrival of Meta, Snap, Bose and Huawei have all stopped selling their glasses. It is still possible to find copies in destocking or second-hand, but it is increasingly difficult. All of them discreetly withdrew, without any communication (only Snap told us several months ago that they were no longer selling Spectacles 3, in favor of an augmented reality model reserved for professionals). Contacted by Numerama, Bose indicates “stop making glasses”, but continue to sell them while supplies last. We searched, they are not found. Going forward, Bose is counting “focus on what matters most to their customers”. Hear speakers and headphones, not glasses.
A few lesser-known manufacturers continue to offer Bluetooth sunglasses, but it’s pretty startling to see three big names, like Snap, Bose and Huawei, shutting down that business at the same time. Is it the fault of Ray-Ban, which took everything with its better known name? Or simply an admission of failure, which could one day push Meta towards the door? Hard to say.
Are connected glasses destined to disappear? In this form, certainly. But the emergence of augmented reality, and mixed reality to begin with, seems to suggest that the “glasses” category still has a bright future ahead of it. However, fans of new technologies seem to be more interested in the Apple Vision Pro or the Meta Quest 3 than in sunglasses equipped with loudspeakers.
Do you still have to buy Meta’s Ray-Ban Stories?
If you wanted to change your sunglasses and the Meta model interests you, is buying Ray-Ban Stories a good idea when the market seems to be in full collapse? We want to think that this is not a real problem, in the sense that Meta and Ray-Ban are two solid players and that it is unlikely that everything will end suddenly. Meta also regularly adds functions to its glasses, such as support for Messenger or Instagram.
The Ray-Ban Stories are available in several modern looks inspired by classic Ray-Bans (in several colors), can film and photograph, respond to voice and include speakers and a microphone for making calls or listening to music. They also allow you to control what you listen to thanks to a touch branch, so you don’t necessarily have to take out your smartphone. Rather cool functions, which can make you want to take advantage of them as long as they exist, especially since the future of the category seems threatened.
Strong points
- A cool design for smart glasses
- Listening to music works well
- The quality of photos and videos
Weak points
- Privacy issues
- The “Hey Facebook” assistant does nothing in French
- We quickly get tired of cameras
- Screws are proprietary, opticians don’t know how to fix them
- No resistance to water or high temperatures
- The price
The only issues to consider, and not the least: the Ray-Ban Stories don’t like the heat too much, aren’t easy to repair (due to proprietary screws) and aren’t made to be submerged in water. If all that doesn’t scare you, then why not. At worst, you’ll be able to use them like normal sunglasses when they won’t turn on.
Will there still be connected sunglasses in the summer of 2024? Will Meta ever launch Ray-Ban Stories 2? The very difficult start of the first connected pairs suggests not. Let’s hope the future proves us wrong, since these products don’t deserve the dislike they receive. On vacation, they can be pretty cool (especially for capturing a few moments).
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