At this rate, the tech industry won't ever develop smart glasses as sleek and unassuming as the ones Ethan Hunt wore in the first Mission Impossible. However, Meta is perhaps inching closer to a more unobtrusive pair with the launch of its Orion augmented reality (AR) glasses this week.

"Orion is a feat of miniaturization – the components are packed down to a fraction of a millimeter," said Meta in a statement. "Orion has the largest field of view in the smallest AR glasses form to date."

But, if you want a pair, tough luck. The glasses aren't for sale, and Meta has been mum about the potential cost. Currently, only Meta employees and "select external audiences" have access to the Orion glasses so the team can continue working on them, according to Meta.

"The company was supposed to sell them but decided not to because they are too complicated and expensive to manufacture right now," said The Verge. If they were to sell them, Meta said the expected cost would be comparable to a smartphone or laptop. That's still quite a bit more than Meta's $299 Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer glasses, which include Meta AI's smart assistant and can make calls, send messages, take pictures, listen to music and more.

The compact look of Meta's new Orion AR glasses is deceiving, however. They only work when paired with a processor puck, which is about the size of a smartphone, and a "neural wristband," which is used to control them. While the glasses don't rely on a smartphone or laptop, they have to be within about 12 feet of the puck to work, according to The Verge.  

Meta's Orion AR glasses have to be paired with a wristband and compute puck to function. (Source: Meta)

Five years ago, Meta announced plans to work on the Orion AR glasses, which were previously codenamed Project Nazare. The glasses include several sensors, cameras, speakers and microphones and are connected via Wi-Fi 6 with the puck that supports apps and graphics, explained Cnet.

Weighing 98 grams (most traditional glasses weigh less than 50g), the frames are also embedded with micro LED projects to display graphics in front of the user's eyes, according to The Verge. Orion glasses are controlled with both eye and hand tracking, plus voice commands and the neural wristband, and have a battery life of about two hours. The wristband "uses electromyography (EMG) to interpret neural signals associated with hand gestures," reported The Verge.

Who wants a pair?

For those wondering why the market even needs AR glasses, Meta said they provide digital experiences unconstrained by the limits of smartphone screens. The glasses deliver holographic displays, integrate with contextual AI, and are lightweight enough for indoor and outdoor use without obstructing the user's face, the company explained.

"That’s the north star our industry has been building towards: a product combining the convenience and immediacy of wearables with a large display, high-bandwidth input and contextualized AI in a form that people feel comfortable wearing in their daily lives," said Meta.

In addition to holographic displays of media and video calls, for example, Orion uses Meta AI, the company's smart assistant, to provide additional details on what users are looking at.

"It [Meta AI] understands what you’re looking at in the physical world and can help you with useful visualizations," according to Meta. "So you can open up your refrigerator and ask for a recipe based on what’s inside. Or video call a friend while adjusting a digital family calendar as you wash the dishes."

AR/VR wearable market declines

Whether there's enough of a market for an expensive pair of AR glasses remains to be seen. Global shipments of AR/VR headsets dropped significantly at the beginning of the year, down 67.4% year over year in Q1 2024, according to IDC.  However, the research group noted that this drop "was expected as the market transitions to include new categories such as Mixed Reality (MR) and Extended Reality (ER)."

Even as sales decline, prices for these products are going up. "Despite the decline, the average selling price (ASP) rose to over $1000 as Apple entered the market and incumbents such as Meta focused on premium headsets such as the Quest 3," said IDC. The Quest 3 is currently on sale for $500, down from $650.