By Adam Clark

Meta Platforms is hovering near the $2 trillion mark as investors warm to its progress in artificial intelligence. A new piece of AI hardware could be the key for a further rally.

The social-media company has already sold more than two million pairs of its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, produced in partnership with eyewear maker EssilorLuxottica. Now it's aiming to build on that success with a more impressive device.

Meta's current smart glasses have limited capabilities, being mostly used for photos and video, audio and some AI interaction. However, it has teased plans for smart glasses with augmented-reality features, which will require either a built-in screen or holographic projection ability.

The wait could be coming to an end. Meta is planning to launch its first display-equipped glasses -- with the code name 'Hypernova' -- next month and hopes to make it available starting at an unexpectedly low price of around $800, according to Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources.

Meta didn't immediately respond to a request for comment early on Monday. The Wall Street Journal had previously reported that the company planned to launch smart glasses with a small in-lens screen this year.

Meta shares were down 0.7% at $780.05 in premarket trading Monday, having risen 34% this year so far through Friday's close. The stock needs to close above at or above $796.134 to close above the $2 trillion market cap level for the first time in its history.

If the new smart glasses are a hit, they could provide both a valuable source of revenue and cement Meta's dominance in the sector. The company's share of the global smart glasses market rose to 73% in the first half of this year, according to Counterpoint Research.

"Shipments of Ray-Ban Meta AI Glasses grew over 200% YoY during the period, reflecting strong market demand and increased manufacturing capacity at Luxottica, Meta's key production partner," wrote Counterpoint analyst Flora Tang, in a research note last week.

Meta recently invested around $3.5 billion in EssilorLuxottica to deepen the two companies' partnership as it prepares to confront a rival Android-powered eyewear product from Alphabet's Google, according to multiple reports.

The big hope for Meta is that smart glasses will displace the smartphone as the main way to access AI on the move.

"Personal devices like glasses that understand our context because they can see what we see, hear what we hear, and interact with us throughout the day will become our primary computing devices," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a recent memo, published by Meta.

Other companies are betting on different types of AI devices. Amazon.com is buying start-up Bee, which makes a wearable bracelet, with a monthly subscription cost, that can record and transcribe all of a user's daily conversations and then uses AI to produce to-do lists, reminders, and other services.

OpenAI said in May it would buy a start-up owned by Jony Ive, Apple's former chief design officer, for $6.4 billion to work on AI devices. While the ChatGPT developer hasn't revealed any planned products, the expectation is that the first release will be some form of additional device that a user can use alongside a smartphone and computer.

But for now Meta is out in front when it comes to AI-equipped hardware, and it looks intent on making sure it stays that way.

Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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August 18, 2025 08:34 ET (12:34 GMT)

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