Meta Unveils Orion AR Glasses: Here are the Complete Feature Details

At today’s MetaConnect, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg debuted Orion, his firm’s brand-new augmented reality (AR) glasses. Orion, formerly known as Project Nazare, is a milestone in Meta’s development of augmented reality technology.

What is Orion from Meta?

The most sophisticated pair of augmented reality glasses produced by Meta to date, Orion combines the familiar look and feel of glasses with the immersive capabilities of virtual reality. According to the company, Orion “bridges the physical and virtual worlds, putting people at the center so they can be more present, connected and empowered in the world.”

The glasses combine the latest augmented reality technologies that project 2D and 3D content directly into the user’s environment with transparent lenses that allow users to maintain eye contact and monitor their surroundings.

According to Meta, Orion’s launch is a step towards achieving an important goal: ensuring that consumers don’t have to choose between being in their physical environment and accessing digital information.

Contextual AI aims to integrate into everyday life through glasses, which offer proactive, on-demand support in a variety of situations. Meta claims that Orion’s form factor has been the main focus, with all-day wearability being a key component. Of course, Orion’s development has been heavily influenced by Meta’s collaboration with EssilorLuxottica on the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, which are among the most fashionable smart glasses on the market right now.

Orion: A major breakthrough in Meta’s journey to ARC’s North Star

AR glasses, in Meta’s opinion, are necessary to enable the next big advancement in human-centered computing for three main reasons:

1. They make it possible to transcend the limitations of the smartphone screen for digital experiences. The real environment serves as a canvas for 2D and 3D experiences when using large holographic screens.

2. Contextual AI, which senses and understands the user’s surroundings to anticipate and proactively respond to their needs, seamlessly integrates with them.

3. They let users see each other’s faces, eyes and expressions, and are lightweight and suitable for indoor and outdoor use.

According to Meta, the “north star” of the market is a product that combines wearable convenience with a large display, high-bandwidth input, contextual AI, and a comfort factor for everyday use. As its name aptly suggests, Orion is a waypoint on Metta’s track toward reaching the North Star, and an important step toward that goal.

Features and Capabilities of Orion

The Orion’s holographic display, which provides a better field of view for augmented reality content, is one of its most prominent features. Meta claims the display has the largest field of view in the form of the smallest AR glasses to date. Thanks to the display’s size and clarity, users can interact with a variety of digital information, including life-size holograms of people and multitasking windows.

“Orion’s components are packed down to a fraction of a millimeter to ensure the glasses are light and comfortable while maintaining the appearance of a regular pair of glasses,” Meta continued.

Contextual AI that Recognizes What You’re Observing

When combined with the Meta AI smart assistant and Orion, the glasses can recognize relevant cues from the user’s surroundings and provide visualizations to help with daily tasks. According to Meta, a user can use the Glass interface to make changes to a digital family calendar or request recipe recommendations based on what’s in their refrigerator during a video conversation. This eliminates the need for the user to reach for the phone.

When can customers buy Orion?

The Orion isn’t intended for immediate consumer distribution, but as Meta said, “This is not a research prototype, please understand that.” One of the best designed product prototypes we’ve ever created, it accurately represents a product that can be sold to consumers. The company explained that it chose to prioritize internal development over pushing products onto store shelves.

To enable the company’s development team to learn, iterate and develop the consumer AR Glasses product line, Meta will provide access to Orion to an external audience and a limited group of its employees starting today with Connect. is and will continue throughout the year. Orion, however, will not be available to the general public.

The Evolution of AR Glasses and Meta’s AR Roadmap

For many years, Meta has been pursuing the development of consumer AR glasses. First released in 2021, the company’s Ray-Ban Meta glasses are a major step toward integrating augmented reality (AR) into everyday wear, as they offer essential digital features such as messaging, AI support, and photos. Enables hands-free access to pickups. However, the Orion’s immersive features and holographic display are missing from the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

Meta announced that it will now focus on the following key areas, positioning Orion as a key offering for full-scale consumer release in the AR space.

• Optimizing wherever possible to reduce form factor;
• Mass manufacturing to reduce the cost of original AR glasses;
• and tuning AR display quality to make images sharper.

As for the timeline, the company simply said that it plans to start shipping the AR glasses to customers “in the near future.” Adding that viewers can expect new products from the company in the coming years as it continues its R&D efforts, Orion showcases some of the possibilities that are currently achievable.