Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses achieve mainstream success amid privacy concerns

Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses have officially crossed the threshold from tech curiosity to mass-market product. With more than 7 million pairs sold in 2025, the device now commands over 80% of the global smart glasses market. That figure is more than three times the total units moved in 2023 and 2024 combined. The glasses look like regular Ray-Bans. They also happen to have a camera, open-ear speakers, and Meta’s AI assistant baked in. The numbers behind the breakout EssilorLuxottica, the eyewear giant partnering with Meta on the product, reported that smart glasses revenue nearly doubled year-over-year by Q2 2026. Mark Zuckerberg has called smart glasses one of the fastest-growing categories in consumer electronics history. The product line has also diversified, now including Oakley-branded variants and newer display-equipped iterations, though the rollout of certain models outside the U.S. has been hampered by supply chain constraints driven by unprecedented domestic demand. The privacy problem that won’t go away As adoption has surged, so have reports of people using the glasses to secretly record others. The devices include a small LED indicator light that’s supposed to signal w...