On an earnings call this week, CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Facebook's next hardware launch would be the long-awaited Ray-Ban smart sunglasses. It is not known when the glasses will be available. They were expected to launch in 2021 at the latest, although we didn't know that. However, plans for many companies have been altered by the pandemic. Zuckerberg has not commented on a timeline.The Facebook CEO said that the next product launch will be the first smart glasses by Ray-Ban, in partnership with EssilorLuxottica. These glasses are iconic for their form factor and allow you to do some really cool things.Although we don't know what these cool things are, Facebook has confirmed that they will not feature an integrated display and won't be classified as an augmented-reality device. They will be able make voice calls. They will have access to a smart assistant. It is not clear. They will rely on a paired smartphone application for controls, like Snap Spectacles and Amazon Echo Frames, even though they don't have an integrated display.Zuckerberg saw the Ray-Ban glasses launch as part of Facebook's future vision of full AR glasses.Augmented reality glasses form a major part of Facebook's plans to create the metaverse, a multi-modal technology platform that blends virtual and physical space. They can be used for shopping and work as well as socializing. Facebook will, of course use it to sell more ads. Zuckerberg said this on the earnings call: "Ads will continue to be an important part the strategy across all social media parts of our work and it will likely be a significant part of the metaverse as well."This is something you should keep in mind when you wear a Facebook-designed computer every day.
