Why Meta And Snap Are Betting Big On AR Glasses

In September, Meta and Snap both unveiled augmented reality smart glasses. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said AR glasses could be the next generation of computing. The tech giants are the first major players to showcase prototypes following years of R&D and significant investments. CNBC’s Julia Boorstin got to try Snap’s Spectacles and Meta’s Orion AR glasses, coming away impressed. But the technology has major hurdles before it can go mainstream. Watch the video to learn why Meta and Snap are investing billions on augmented reality and what’s next for the cutting-edge technology.

Chapters:
2:46 - Chapter 1. Past attempts
5:15 - Chapter 2. A new era for AR
8:00 - Chapter 3. A long road to market

Produced, Shot and Edited by: Andrew Evers
Senior Media and Tech Correspondent: Julia Boorstin
Senior Field Producer: Stephen Desaulniers
Supervising Producer: Jeniece Pettitt
Graphics by: Jason Reginato
Additional Footage: Meta, Snap, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Getty Images

About CNBC: From 'Wall Street' to 'Main Street' to award winning original documentaries and Reality TV series, CNBC has you covered. Experience special sneak peeks of your favorite shows, exclusive video and more.

Connect with CNBC News Online

#CNBC
#augmentedreality

Why Meta And Snap Are Betting Big On AR Glasses

[alxk]

Lets play Basketball while wearing glasses that cost thousands of dollars. What do they do? Track your score, because you probably forgot how to count! Will you drop them and break them? You bet your ass! 😂

[Rollexm]

“People are getting fed up with their screens”

And your solution is we put it on our face? 🤔🤔🤔

[ArchThaBoss]

At one point in time I’d be excited for stuff like this. Not anymore. This technology isn’t for the betterment of humanity. It’s just another way to extract data from you to sell to advertisers

[Longhorndude]

Its gonna be this generations Google Glass.

[jameshealwriter]

Oh yeah, this is a great idea 🤣🤣 people checking their messages while driving on an AR highway that looks like a hunter s thompson movie haha😅

[dealwithit]

I wear prescription glasses so I know how annoying glasses are. I don't think this tech will get popular. I think we need good content, not a new way to consume average content.

[shink]

Imagine your company forces you to wear these at work. They can track everything you are doing and even looking at. When they send you a notification, they can know exactly when you saw it.

It’s not unrealistic that every interaction you ever have will now be recorded from a first person POV, like body cams on steroids. If someone takes out their phone and starts recording, that requires an obvious action detectable by others and is usually for a discrete period of time. You can usually see where someone is pointing their phone. With glasses, what are you going to do… tell them to stop looking in a certain direction? Tell them to take their glasses off?
Trust that they aren’t first person recording you, your kids, your credit card number when you pull out your card, etc.?

Zuckerberg was caught covering his laptop camera with tape. Wonder why… perhaps it’s bc he’s directly aware of what our devices can do even if you don’t intend for it.

[evgnius]

People are tired of screens? Dude is delusional.

[brodogg]

I remember when nintendo put ar in the ds and no one cared.

[wasimshaikh]

Dude: People are tired of screen. *Let's put screen on their face*

[shink]

Gives me a chuckle just imagining the potential hacking opportunities.

So it’s not enough that your phone that tracks and listens to you… we need a device that also tracks what you are looking at all times.

[djmikio]

Like most of us I need to constantly stare at my screen for work and for communication. Feeling "tired of my screen" doesn't seem like it's going to improve by plastering my screen onto the rest of humanity and the natural world. This is so dystopian.

[Semmster]

I'm now 50-odd, and my imagination has been here since before I was 20. I've been ready since the first time I played Doom and Quake. I already talk to my phone and I show it the things I'm curious about and I chafe at the delay involved in running to get the phone, or getting out of my pocket. I hope I'm physically able to enjoy this tech when it finally matures.

[rcdriver]

All of this technology is pure overhead. Health, job, career, and life are all far more important than modern technology. Also, being protected in the court of law is very important for living in life.

[auro]

why make stupid glasses which have to be commanded by voice when you can type to search or download anything 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 in a smartphone?

[williamparrish]

This is amazing technology. Lots of people in the comments who have no clue what an advantage those glasses are going to provide to humanity.

[JoeKnowsWorst]

people are getting fed up with their screens? so why are most people buried in their phone’s screen all day long? I don’t mind them trying new things, in fact I like it, but that’s a ridiculous statement, and silly to think these are going to replace phones…

[louieadam]

The world is getting crazy with this invention. It makes the world in chaos and expensive.

[Reprogrammed_By_SEGA]

Glad I never bought a Meta Quest now that this is their new shiny toy which will take all their attention.

[srik]

Once it gets more affordable, stylish, comfortable, seamless & discrete, then best believe it will be worldwide; with some privacy concerns of course.