Social networking firm, Meta is on course to top $100 billion worth of investment into augmented and virtual reality as the company pushes its smart glasses.
This comes as CEO Mark Zuckerberg described this year as the “defining year” for smart glasses as investment into the VR and AR segment has already exceeded $80 billion since the company launched the initiative in 2014, according to the Financial Times calculations and analyst estimates.
Meta targets to add another $20 billion this year
According to Meta’s annual report , the company poured $19.9 billion towards Reality Labs like, a record high for the group following over a decade of losses. The Reality Labs makes the firm’s Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
Last week Zuckerberg referred to the glasses as a “real hit as well as its Quest VR headsets. Citing someone familiar with the matter, the Financial Times, revealed that Meta sold one million sets of the Ray-Ban in 2024 alone.
The company also acquired a VR headset maker known as Oculus. Since this acquisition, Meta has invested more than $80 billion.
Now, its annual report shows the company wants to pour more funding amounting to $20 billion into the division this year alone, showing the cost of Zuckerberg’s long-term initiatives to reduce his company’s reliance on Apple’s and Google’s devices for distribution of apps and services. This is also part of initiatives to build a new computing platform, according to the Financial Times.
“Meta’s investments in Reality Labs are eye-watering, yet it’s not clear if they are unreasonable if you believe it can build the business that it’s looking to be, which is replacing [Apple’s] iOS,” said Matthew Ball, a tech investor and author of The Metaverse.
Reality Labs recorded $2.1 billion in revenue in 2024, three years after the parent company rebranded itself from Facebook to Meta in line with the thrust of building a “metaverse.” The $2.1 billion was 13% above the prior year while operating losses reached a record high of $17.7 billion.
Since 2019, Reality Labs has generated $10.1 billion.
Meta shifts focus to smart glasses
While the company rebranded to reflect the new thrust of building a metaverse, Zuckerberg has been drifting from this. According to Financial Times, the Meta boss has over the past year shifted from talking about developing the avatar-filled metaverse to smart glasses, powered by AI.
During the company’s earnings call, Zuckerberg was upbeat and enthusiastic about the AI glasses’ outlook. The AI glasses are produced in partnership with EssilorLuxottica, Ray-Ban’s parent company.
“This will be a defining year that determines if we’re on a path towards many hundreds of millions and eventually, billions of AI glasses, and glasses being the next computing platform like we’ve been talking about for some time — or if this is just going to be a longer grind.”
Zuckerberg.
The Ray-Ban glasses are equipped with tiny cameras, microphones, and speakers to allow the user to take pictures, chat with an AI assistant, or listen to music. According to FT, Meta is planning to launch the latest version this year. These will reportedly feature a small display for the first time.
Users can activate the virtual assistant on the Ray-Ban glasses by saying “Hey Meta,” then ask a question or prompt. The assistant will respond via speakers built into the frames.
According to Meta , the Ray-Ban glasses allow users to live stream from the glasses to social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, using “Hey Meta” to engage with the firm’s “advanced conversational assistant” MetaAI.
The developments come as its Quest VR headset is still struggling on the market to achieve mainstream appeal. Analysts and game developers estimate that about 30 million units have been sold to date, at a cost of $300 and upwards each set. The company has however maintained this segment has been on a steady growth.
Meta’s investment into Reality Labs is a fraction of what the group is planning to spend on AI infrastructure “over the long-term.”
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