By Erick Reliance Jio announced Jio Frames in August 2025. There wasn’t a follow up yet but it’s too early to say if the project is tanked.
More recently, Lenskart announced that its upcoming smart glasses will have UPI integrated. So you may be able to literally look at a QR code and money will get deducted from your bank account. Lenskart is heading for an IPO (and true enough its projected share price rose after that announcement) so it’s too early to say if the project is tanked.
The thing about smart wearables…
…is that you need to give up space on your body. For a device that needs to look good and be functional. At the very least, provide health data.
Smart watches had their moment ten years ago with the introduction of the Apple Watch. They are still having that moment – with Fitbit (still owned by Google that also makes the pixel watch), Galaxy watches, Garmin, and the Noise / Boult / 200 other brands of the world.
Smart rings too. The Oura was a breakthrough gadget. Galaxy Ring is doing…. kinda well. And closer to home there’s Ultrahuman.
None of the devices that did well would have done well if they looked like crap. Because you wear it on your body, it has to look decent to most people for any form of commercial success.
The thing about smart glasses…
… is that for one it doesn’t measure health as well as a smartwatch or smart ring can. How would your glasses measure your blood oxygen? The technology is not here yet.
Then there’s the part of your body it sits on – your face. This is the prime-st body real estate.
And not everyone wears glasses. I don’t wear glasses (yet) so if I want a pair of smart glasses I just pick one up from the store. But my wife wears glasses, and she would have to get hers custom made to fit her power (and something called astigmatism).
Met’s genius move
Is to build on the success of Quest (which was through the acquisition of Oculus that became Facebook’s VR labs).
And partner with Ray-Ban, who makes some very recognisable sunglasses.
And introduce the Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses, now in their second generation with an inbuilt display.
And partner with Oakley too.
So much so that Meta’s business focus seems to be Reels / video, and then smartglasses.
It has to look good. Otherwise it won’t be successful. And they are not reinventing the look of popular sunglasses, they are just adding functionality. Smart.