Following the success of Quest3 and the generally warm reception of the Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses, Business Insider reports that Meta is preparing to show its next big mixed reality innovation later this year

The site claims that two anonymous insiders have revealed that they have approached the AR team to demonstrate AR glasses (internally codenamed "Orion") at Meta's annual "Connect" event This is typically held in the fall; last year's event took place at the end of September

This is a distinct product from Ray-Ban's Stories glasses, which look like ordinary frames with a hidden camera that simply records video and takes pictures

In fact, Business Insider calls it the company's first "true" AR glasses, recalling the ill-fated Google Glass and the prospect of apps used via visual overlays

Meta's chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, has been talking about such a device for the past year, and in an interview with The Verge in December, he said of a possible 2024 demo: "People have the opportunity to play with this in 2024 I think the chances of getting it are pretty good"

Bosworth described it as "the most exciting prototype ever" and went on to say that it is a device that could be a game changer

"You're probably going to get mad at me for saying this: this may be the most advanced technology on the planet in this field In the field of consumer electronics, it may be the most advanced thing we have ever produced as a species"

One of BusinessInsider's sources claims to have a glimpse of some of the aforementioned prototypes on CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg's desk, thanks to a post on Threads The two pairs of frames photographed appear to be chunkier than the Ray-Ban Stories, but that may be a small price to pay for the extra features - especially if it is as exciting as Bosworth suggests

It is important to note, however, that this year's demo is not the same one you can buy; as Business Insider points out, it is currently "expensive to manufacture, much less sell at retail," so you may have a complete set in your hands may take years to arrive

In fact, a leaked roadmap from last year puts the AR glasses in 2027 Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how much progress has been made in the field of AR in the nine years since Google Glass was unveiled at this year's Connect event