EssilorLuxottica expands smart glasses partnership with Meta

(Reuters) -EssilorLuxottica said on Tuesday it had extended its partnership with Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) by entering into a new long-term agreement to continue the development of smart eyewear into the next decade.

“The incredible work we’ve done with Meta, still in its early stages, has already proven to be an important milestone in our journey to making glasses the gateway to the connected world,” EssilorLuxottica CEO Francesco Milleri said.

EssilorLuxottica and Meta established their partnership in 2019, and have focused on two generations of Ray-Ban branded smart glasses since.

Despite initially struggling to gain traction among consumers, the latest version, introduced in late 2023, has sold more units in a few months than the previous ones did in two years.

Ray-Ban Meta’s smart eyewear allows consumers to make phone calls, listen to music and take photos just by pressing a button on top of the right temple of the glasses. A multimodal artificial intelligence (AI) function was also added in May for U.S. and Canadian customers only.

“I’m proud of the work we’ve done with EssilorLuxottica so far, and I’m excited about our long-term roadmap ahead. We have the opportunity to turn glasses into the next major technology platform, and make it fashionable in the process,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement.