The XR (or extended reality) market is experiencing unprecedented growth, driven by spectacular technological advances and massive investments. As evidence, mixed reality (MR) — which combines virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) — is developing exponentially, with expected growth of over 45% in the coming years.
To materialize this trend, tech giants are actively working on lightweight, compact, and powerful models of augmented reality and mixed reality glasses, ready to replace our smartphone screens by enhancing our view of the real world with digital information, graphics, and interactive tools. These increasingly discreet and stylish glasses are designed as true extensions of our daily lives, providing access to advanced features seamlessly. So, ready to disrupt your habits and those of your colleagues?
In this article, Audace invites you to take stock of the latest innovations in XR glasses. We will introduce you to the key models on the market and their potential applications in the professional world.
Miniaturization of Equipment: A Turning Point for XR
Rapid technological advancements have significantly miniaturized electronic components, making it possible to create XR glasses almost as thin and lightweight as regular sunglasses. These now blend seamlessly into our daily lives, providing a high-quality immersive experience without sacrificing comfort.
Improvement in Portability and Ergonomics
Miniaturization makes XR devices lighter, more compact, and therefore more comfortable to use. Historically, VR and AR headsets were often bulky and cumbersome, limiting their use to short and often static sessions. Today, smaller and lighter equipment makes prolonged use easier, facilitating their applications in various sectors and environments, such as education, training, and industry.
Increased Performance in Compact Formats
Miniaturization goes hand in hand with improved embedded computing capabilities. More powerful processors and more precise motion tracking systems can be integrated into increasingly smaller devices. Despite their discreet and lightweight design, the new XR glasses deliver high performance with advanced sensors, enhancing the quality of the user experience.
New Use Cases in Professional Environments
Thanks to this miniaturization, it is now possible to integrate XR devices into mobile work environments, such as construction sites or factories. In the context of training, this enables more realistic and smoother immersive simulations. In industry, there is a growing adoption of XR for predictive maintenance, warehouse inventory management, and remote collaboration.
Augmented Reality: Key Market Players and News to Watch
Several companies are at the forefront of research and development in the field of XR glasses. Here are some key examples.
Technology and Productivity: With Vuzix, High-Performance AR Solutions for Healthcare, Industry, and Logistics
Vuzix is an American company specializing in the design and manufacture of smart glasses and augmented reality devices. Founded in 1997, it initially focused on enhanced vision solutions for the military industry before shifting to the commercial market, developing products for various sectors such as logistics, healthcare, industry, and entertainment. The company currently offers several models of augmented reality glasses, divided into three ranges and designed to improve productivity and employee safety:
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Vuzix Blade 2: Designed for both consumers and professionals, this AR glasses model is primarily intended for everyday use. Its sleek and compact design allows for discreet use, with a transparent augmented reality display that projects information directly into the user’s field of view. It is ideal for applications such as navigation, translation, gaming, as well as simple professional tasks. These augmented reality glasses are priced around €800 to €1,000.
- Vuzix M-Series (Vuzix M400 et Vuzix M4000) :Designed for professionals, the M series is characterized by a rugged design, extended battery life, and a wide field of view. With their dedicated XR1 platform and an 8-core AR processor, these durable and waterproof smart glasses are intended for performing complex tasks such as logistics, industrial production, and maintenance. Equipped with voice control and compatible with medical equipment, these glasses are particularly valued in the healthcare sector. They allow professionals to access patient information in real-time during procedures, stream and share surgical videos for live training, and collaborate with remote experts for immediate assessment. Additionally, they comply with HIPAA regulations, ensuring the protection of medical data.
- The Vuzix Z100 glasses are a specific and lesser-known model from the brand, primarily designed for professional uses that require advanced graphical performance and high resolution. These glasses stand out for their ability to project high-definition images and their expanded field of view, providing enhanced immersion in augmented reality. The Z100 model was designed for specialized applications, often in sectors such as engineering, 3D design, and industrial environments requiring precise visualizations. The Vuzix Z100 offers a powerful alternative for those seeking smart glasses suited for complex tasks, but they are less geared toward everyday use and more tailored for specific deployments, requiring a robust computing infrastructure to operate effectively.
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Vuzix Shield®: This range is geared towards industry, with extremely durable glasses designed for the most demanding environments. The Shield model is specifically created for industrial applications requiring enhanced protection. They offer features such as: access to instructions or live remote guidance, the ability to scan codes with an advanced reader, or stream videos from the field, all activated by voice or touch.
- A bright and discreet display with an expanded field of view.
- An ergonomic design focused on user comfort for extended wear.
- Modular mounting options tailored to different professional preferences.
- Real-time collaboration via video streaming, with integration into videoconferencing platforms like Zoom and WebEx.
Vuzix glasses are already well-established in the market, used across various sectors such as industry, healthcare, and customer service. Their price varies depending on features and the range: for entry-level models like the Vuzix Blade, the price starts around €800 to €1,000, while more advanced professional and industrial models like the M series or Vuzix Shield can reach up to €3,000, depending on the selected options.
Meta: The Revolution of AR Glasses... and Our Daily Lives?
For several years, Meta has been heavily investing in the development of augmented and virtual reality. The company aims to create a complete ecosystem around its products, ranging from headsets to smart glasses, as well as smartwatches. With its now-famous “Meta Quest” virtual reality headsets… , the social media giant currently offers a range of high-performance and attractive headsets aimed at professionals. Models like the… The Meta Quest 3 already integrates mixed reality features. But Meta’s ambitions don’t stop there!
At the same time, Mark Zuckerberg’s company continues to expand its augmented reality offering with the development of consumer AR glasses that are expected to soon become an essential tool in our daily lives. For example, the Ray-Ban Meta glasses… is currently entering the market. Who among us could tell it apart from a classic pair of eyeglasses? Let’s admit it, the result is impressive.
This next-generation glasses are positioned as a true personal assistant, capable of making daily life easier for its users through the “Meta AI” (currently unavailable in the European Union).
If they live up to their promises, these glasses could revolutionize our daily lives with numerous features such as voice interaction, personal assistance (memory aid, real-time conversation translation, etc.), sending messages or making phone calls, and the ability to listen to audio content (music, podcasts, etc.). The cherry on top: they even aim to assist visually impaired people in real-time, thanks to a partnership with Be My Eyes. This fall, a new version of the Ray-Ban Stories will be available, followed in 2025 by the third generation of this device.
But that’s not all! The company is planning a major breakthrough in 2027 with its flagship (and most ambitious) project: the Orion glasses. Lightweight, ultra-powerful, and equipped with cutting-edge technology, the Orion glasses promise an extraordinary immersive experience, intuitively combining augmented reality and artificial intelligence in an unprecedented format:
- Ergonomics and Comfort: Ultra-compact and lightweight (only 98 g!), these AR glasses will be capable of projecting high-quality holograms. The secret to this lightness? A small device connected to the glasses and fitting into a pocket: the “Compute puck.” This will provide a connection to a customized Wi-Fi 6 and help extend the glasses’ battery life (estimated at 3 hours). This device will also handle graphic processing and app management. In short, you put the device in your pocket, and you’re ready for a smooth experience with the lightweight glasses!
- Eye and Gesture Tracking: To enhance immersion, sensors integrated into the glasses will track the user’s eye movements. This way, the display can adapt based on what the user is looking at, making the experience more intuitive. Additionally, hand gestures, detected by cameras, will facilitate interaction with virtual elements, offering a natural and smooth manipulation of augmented reality objects.
- Neural Bracelet: One of the innovative aspects of the Orion glasses is their neural bracelet., which will allow users to control certain functions of the glasses through thought. This bracelet will detect the electrical signals emitted by the brain and translate them into commands for the glasses. This technology will pave the way for an even more immersive interaction, where users can interact with their virtual environment without the need for physical actions.
- Integration with the Real World: The cameras integrated into the glasses are equipped with RGB and depth sensors., which will allow the glasses to capture not only the color image of the environment but also information about distance and depth. This will enable the glasses to create an accurate 3D representation of the environment, essential for realistic overlay of virtual elements. The visual data will be processed by algorithms for object recognition and 3D mapping, enabling seamless integration of virtual objects with the real world.
Our developers' opinion on the Meta Orion glasses:
The Meta Orion glasses promise to be a turning point for immersive learning. Their lightweight design (98 g) and natural interaction, made possible by eye tracking and the neural bracelet, promise more intuitive training. Without controllers or complex gestures, the immersion becomes smoother than ever. Aimed at the professional sector, with 1,000 units currently in testing, they are not yet available to the general public. At this moment, their limited battery life of three hours and high price ($10,000) would hinder widespread adoption. However, these glasses foreshadow a future where more accessible immersive training could radically change corporate learning.
Breaking Language Barriers:
A closer look at Google's and Solos' instant universal translation glasses.
In 2022, 10 years after the failure of Google Glass, Google unveiled a prototype (still in development) of connected glasses for instant universal translation. This technology literally eliminates the language barrier, and its ease of use makes it accessible to everyone. Instant translation has long been a priority for Google, which has already developed several products in this field, such as the Pixel Buds or the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro smartphones. This new prototype of glasses could go even further, facilitating communication between people who speak different languages, while also making this advancement accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing, through visual transcription.
Enhanced with AI, these glasses will be able to capture a conversation, translate the speaker’s sentences in real-time, and display the result as subtitles on the lens of the glasses. The prototype resembles regular glasses, but it integrates advanced technologies to “listen,” “translate,” and “transcribe.” When someone speaks a foreign language, the glasses will translate their words in real-time and display the translation on the lenses, like movie subtitles. The two speakers, despite speaking different languages, will be able to converse naturally.
But Google is not alone in the instant translation market. The year 2024 saw the arrival of augmented reality glasses from Solos :the Solos AirGo 3.
These new glasses rely on two key technologies from OpenAI: ChatGPT and Whisper, the voice recognition system capable of handling 99 languages. This enables audio exchanges with artificial intelligence. This way, t he microphones capture the speaker’s words, which are automatically translated and delivered to the user through the speakers, in an experience that Solos ensures is discreet.
The glasses also feature a mode specifically designed for groups, allowing conversations between multiple participants to be translated, with each person able to listen to the exchange in their native language. To join a conversation, all you need to do is scan a QR code or access a URL, similar to what you would do for a video conference call. Additionally, the glasses can translate text through the Solos companion app.
The Solos glasses, focused on translation and communication, are priced around 600 to 800 €.
Towards the democratization of immersive learning?
Once considered expensive and complex, immersive technologies are becoming more accessible thanks to advancements by tech giants, eager to disrupt our habits by providing us with increasingly ergonomic and accessible equipment. While current models are still primarily reserved for research and development, costs are expected to decrease in the coming years with the optimization of production processes. If these developments come to fruition, immersive learning, facilitated by the widespread use of these devices, could become a standard in corporate training in France within the next five years.
