Meta Admits Smart Glasses Won’t Replace Smartphones Anytime Soon — But Says Adoption Is Growing

Meta’s top brass is reining in expectations about the future of smart glasses, noting that its chances of becoming the next means of mobile communication are slim.

Speaking at the Bloomberg Technology Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday, the company’s Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth, acknowledged that smart glasses — while promising — are nowhere close to replacing smartphones.

“That’s ways off,” Bosworth said. “Smartphones are incredible and it’s not just that they are great devices and convenient. We are used to them.”

According to him, smartphones are deeply entrenched in people’s lives because of their seamless connection to a global software and hardware ecosystem that smart glasses still struggle to tap into.

“There’s an incredibly entangled ecosystem of software connected to the rest of the world around us,” Bosworth said. “So I think that [smart glasses replacing phones] will take a longer journey. The good news is they work really well in concerts,” he added with a smile.

Not Just a Meta View

Bosworth isn’t alone in that assessment. Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg echoed similar sentiments last year, telling The Verge that phones are here to stay — at least for now.

“It’s not like we’re going to throw away our phones,” Zuckerberg said. “But I think what’s going to happen is that, slowly, we’re just going to start doing more things with our glasses and leaving our phones in our pockets more.”

Zuckerberg suggested that 2025 would be a “defining year” to determine if smart glasses could evolve into “the next computing platform,” or if their growth would be “just a longer grind.” The Ray-Ban Meta AI Glasses, Meta’s flagship product in the category, has been well received by early adopters, but it’s still too early to know whether mass consumer behavior will shift.

During his Bloomberg interview, Bosworth also weighed in on Apple’s much-hyped Vision Pro headset. While he praised the engineering behind the device, he criticized its weight, calling it a “rookie mistake.”

“So from an engineering standpoint, it’s wonderful and congratulations to that team,” he said. “From a product standpoint, you can tell it’s their first offering in the space.” He argued that Apple misjudged key aspects of the user experience, particularly in how heavy and awkward the device feels to wear.

“First-generation products are hard. It’s not until the second or third generation that you really figure out and hone the thing, and they made a lot of mistakes in that in terms of weight and where the weight was,” Bosworth noted.

Market Slowly Heating Up for Ray-Ban AI Glasses

Despite skepticism about rapid adoption, Meta’s push into smart glasses is seeing steady momentum. In January, Zuckerberg told investors during the company’s earnings call that Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses had become “a real hit.”

EssilorLuxottica, which produces the glasses for Meta, confirmed in February that it had sold 2 million pairs since 2023. Its CEO, Francesco Milleri, said the company is aiming to manufacture up to 10 million units annually for Meta by the end of 2026 — a sign of growing confidence in the category.

Zuckerberg, who sees AI-infused glasses as a key component of future computing, noted that many breakthrough tech products historically hit their stride in their third generation.

“Many breakout products in the history of consumer electronics have sold 5–10 million units in their third generation,” he said.

That benchmark could determine whether AI smart glasses transition from niche gadgets to mainstream devices — or remain a futuristic curiosity in consumers’ accessory drawers. However, Meta appears content with playing the long game, at least, for now.