Facebook’s New Move Could Signal the Arrival of Augmented Reality Glasses

Remember Google Glass? If you don’t, it’s ok. The futuristic smart glasses ended up being a commercial failure, and were pulled from the market back in 2015 just a year after releasing. A few years later, Facebook is the next company that appears to be taking a stab at technologically advanced eyewear. New reports claim that the social media giant has moved hundreds of employees to a team dedicated to developing augmented reality glasses.

According to Business Insider, Facebook has shifted hundreds of its employees from Facebook Reality Labs over to a team solely dedicated to forwarding the development of AR hardware. Seeking Alpha has reported that an estimated 60-percent of Facebook Reality Labs 650 employees were being transferred to the augmented reality project. That number has not been confirmed, but Facebook spokesperson Tera Randall told Business Insider that the team will continue to expand over the course of the year.

Prototypes suggest that Facebook’s AR glasses would appear much more similar to a regular pair of glasses rather than the massive virtual reality headsets that have peppered the market in recent years to introduce consumers to the technology. 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has commented on the future of AR glasses in the past, so this seems to be a step in the right direction. However, you shouldn’t expect to see pairs hitting the market any time in the near future. Randall told Gizmodo that AR is, “still a very long term project for us and is on our 10-year roadmap.”