Meta Hypernova Glasses May Cost $1,000 and Use a Tiny Screen

Meta’s next step on its quest to reign over the burgeoning market for AR glasses may demand a hefty chunk of your wallet. The Mark Zuckerberg-led company is reportedly planning for new glasses, codenamed “Hypernova,” that could cost well over $1,000 for the sake of a tiny heads-up-display built into one lens. Yes, that’s expensive, but Meta’s real struggle will be making sure it runs on software that doesn’t make us want to throw its expensive glasses off a cliff.

The rumored Hypernova augmented reality glasses should arrive sometime this year, according to a Tuesday report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman based on anonymous sources. The first iteration of Meta’s glasses with screens will include a minuscule monocular panel in the right-hand lens. This could offer users notifications from their phone or access to photos, or even check out directions from an app like Google Maps. For that privilege, prospective owners will need to cough up at least $1,000, according to Gurman. Some versions may cost upwards of $1,300 or $1,400.

Meta could debut those glasses this year, likely at its annual Meta Connect conference. This model may also see a larger sensor that should shoot higher-quality photos than the 12 MP camera sensor on the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

Otherwise, the Hypernova will mirror the design of Meta’s past work. Current Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses start at $300, though versions with transition lenses cost closer to $380. These glasses use physical button controls to access the built-in camera for photos or videos. The glasses’ best feature is the on-board speakers, which users can control by sliding their finger along a capacitive sensor on the right ear piece. Gurman mentioned the Hypernova glasses’ physical controls may work the same way as the Ray-Bans.

The Ray-Ban Meta glasses do the job if all you want to do is snap quick pics of your dog or listen to your tunes without headphones. The main issue for any future Meta wearable will be software. Bloomberg noted Hypernova will boot onto its own home screen where users will have access to an app drawer of horizontal icons. There could be a dedicated apps for pictures, camera, and maps.

Gurman said the glasses “will continue rely heavily” on the Meta View app. You use that app with the Ray-Bans for moving photos from your glasses to your phone. It’s not a particularly easy app to use, and the many mentions of the new glasses containing the ability to deliver notifications, presumably from your phone, have me a little nervous.

Software has always been Meta’s Achilles’ heel. It’s a web-based company in a world where the phone makers decide who can do what. The Meta View app is severely limited by the operating systems it operates on, and Mark Zuckerberg hasn’t been shy complaining about how the Ray-Ban Meta and other third party hardware works with iOS. If these new glasses are stuck in a similar ecosystem then it will be hard for them to not end up like the the many smartglasses that have come before.

Recent leaks from inside Meta suggest the company has plans to launch multiple types of smart glasses this year. (One of those could be a pair of Oakley-branded visors made for athletes.) But this strategy will continue to struggle when the glasses are being used as an interface for a phone made by another company. Unless Zuckerberg and company know something we don’t, these new glasses might lead to more frustration than wonder.