For many years, the smartphone has taken an important place in our lives. We use daily, and has won against the landline and computer. An omnipresence that we owe to companies such as Apple, Samsung or Google. Another tried to find a place in this revolution in the early 2010s: Facebook, at that time known for its homonymous social network.
In 2013, Facebook had collaborated with the Taiwanese manufacturer HTC to offer an Android smartphone with an overlap that integrates the functions of its platform. The user could significantly see the reception news and lock screens. But this attempt resulted in a failure for Facebook, with catastrophic sales in the United States, which pushed European operators as Orange to cancel its launch in the continent.
An adventure released after a failure
This Fiasco, Mark Zuckerberg, did not forget. “Around 2012, 2014, it was too late to really give this platform significantly. This edition was also marked by the presentation of the first glasses of augmented reality, Orion.
Known for its social networks, the company has gradually diversified, which makes the glasses connected its playground. A new path built on the ruins of its failures in the smartphone market. “Very fast, I told myself: ‘Well, let’s focus on the future because, as with the transition from the computer to the mobile, they will be possible new things. So what is it?'” Mark Zuckerberg recalls during this interview.
Years (and efforts) later, Meta launched its first connected glasses, Ray-Ban’s stories. Designed in collaboration with the famous brand, they allow you to take photos and videos and then share them, listen to music, but also make calls. We are in 2021 and the company, or rather Mark Zuckerberg, does not plan to stop there. Because you see connected glasses as a way to replace the smartphone, which considers an object of the past.
“I think what will happen is not that we throw our phones, but I think that little by little, we will begin to do more things with our glasses and leave our smartphones more frequently in our pockets,” said the Boss goal of The Verge.
For him, it is clear that users, over time, will use more and more glasses connected instead of their smartphone, even if this central object of our lives is not about to disappear, as recognized.
The smartphone exceeded, place with connected glasses
After Ray-Ban’s stories, goal returns two years later with his successors, called Ray-Ban Meta. Offering the same functions, they are distinguished by the addition of artificial intelligence. In addition to being able to distribute live content, users can also call the goal assistant AI to obtain information or control their glasses with the voice.
And its success seems to demonstrate the reason for Mark Zuckerberg, with more than one million units sold in 2024. But it is not enough for the finish line, which seeks to adopt greatly and sell five million this year. For many months, he has repeatedly proclaimed that the connected glasses have represented the future in front of smartphones, even more with AI.
The Meta CEO went even further, declaring in July 2025 that people who will not have connected glasses in the future will be cognitively disadvantaged. An additional attempt to turn it into an essential accessory, which is an “ideal way to mix physical and digital worlds,” according to him.
The ideal device for the Superintendent
Mark Zuckerberg believes that these devices are a bridge to immerse AI in our daily lives. His goal is to develop what he calls a superintendent, which is a smarter AI than humans. Such a system “that knows us deeply, understands our goals and can help us achieve them” will be much more useful than others.
These convictions, Mark Zuckerberg, reiterated them at the Connect Conference in 2025. “Our goal is to create elegant glasses that offer personal superintendents and a sense of presence thanks to realistic holograms,” he launched on stage.
Beyond its AI capabilities that will make us smarter, the finish line sees the means to preserve the feeling of presence experienced when one is with other people. A feeling that we have lost a little with smartphones, deplored, but that we can find the glasses. It is one of the three principles of the company in the development of these devices.
Less use your smartphone
Mark Zuckerberg took advantage of the conference to remember what he thinks of the future of smartphones. This, from the beginning with a staging: before arriving in front of the public, we see it waiting for a motorhome. It is filmed. Installed on a sofa, check out some sheets when a person plays at the door to inform him that it is time to go there.
The Facebook founder then puts his sheets on the table and takes the object used to film it. This is not a smartphone, but new glasses with a screen, the finish screen Ray-Ban. Once in the nose, we see what it sees, including a reminder that the conference begins in a minute and the place where it will take place. Another tab allows you to call the goal AI.
While heading to the stage, he launched a musical piece on Spotify from his lenses and a few seconds before getting there, he gives someone to someone. Firm that will not need it during the event.
The Ray-Ban target screen is in fact a means of missing your smartphone. With your screen, they allow you to check messages, make video calls, take photos and even follow a route. Move, click on how we do it on a smartphone, all this is possible with subtle movements of the hand, thanks to a bracelet that interprets the impulses sent by the brain to the forearm muscles.
Similarly, Meta also wants to encourage athletes to use their smartphone less during their training. The Oakley Meta Vanguard, designed specifically for high intensity sports, has a camera to capture memorable moments (ski disks, marathons …). They can even help them not miss the key moments such as speed or altitude or cardiac accelerations, automatically registering them.
A technology to improve
If the new target glasses seem impressive, they are far from being perfect, as shown in live demonstrations in Connect. Using the goal screen Ray-Ban, a chef called the goal AI to ask for live help to prepare a sauce for your sandwich. But from the beginning, each attempt was not successful. The first time the boss asked the AI what she had to do first, she didn’t answer. The second time, he said that he had already mixed the basic ingredients when this was not the case. The third time too.
Similarly, Mark Zuckerberg could not win a simple video call from the technical target director, Andrew Bosworth. This, five times because the buttons allowed to break down did not appear on the screen. The billionaire only saw lost calls.
He himself is aware of the limits of these connected glasses, but remains convinced that they will eventually be massively adopted. Many people carrying glasses to correct their view, judge the vast majority possible to be connected glasses within five or seven years. “I think it’s a bit like when the iPhone came out and everyone still had valves,” he said with the Fuentes Bulletin.
However, we are still far away. Some products already allow a certain level of autonomy compared to the phone. This is the case of connected watches, such as Apple Watch, which have a cell connection to make calls, send messages or listen to music. But here again, uses are more limited than a smartphone. In order for the glasses to also become essential, they will have to gain energy, regardless from the point of view of the battery and compared to smartphones, and also in ergonomics. The bracelet developed by Meta is a good first step in this direction, but is still accompanied by a restriction. For tomorrow’s connected glasses to supplant the smartphone, it will take no less than reinvent interfaces and new interaction methods. They will also have to be more than consultations and load video terminals … The road is still long … and goal is not the only one in the race.
Source: BFM TV
