TECH NEWS – The head of the world’s largest eyewear company believes smartphones are on the verge of extinction, soon to be replaced by AI-driven smart glasses.
EssilorLuxottica, a global leader in lenses, frames, and sunglasses—and Meta’s strategic partner in the fast-growing smart glasses sector—believes the age of smartphones is nearing its end. In their place, AI-powered glasses will soon dominate daily life. However, while the vision is bold, reality tells a different story. Speaking with Bloomberg, CEO Francesco Milleri made headlines by predicting a future where hundreds of millions of smart glasses are interconnected, creating vast digital communities.
Milleri revealed plans to ramp up production to 10 million units by late 2026 to meet Meta’s surging demand and expand manufacturing for other models, including Nuance Audio smart glasses that double as hearing aids. Still, analysts remain skeptical. Current projections suggest the total market for smart glasses could reach just 60 million units by 2035—a modest figure compared to global smartphone sales. For context, Apple shipped 232 million iPhones in 2024 alone. While the dream of replacing phones with glasses is enticing, such a seismic shift appears unlikely in the near term.
Barclays projected that the collaboration with Meta could bring EssilorLuxottica up to €6 billion by 2030.
Analysts also see room for total annual smart glasses shipments to rise to 60 million units by 2035.
But if smart glasses are supposed to partially replace smartphones,… https://t.co/uFW9JWPdIJ pic.twitter.com/k0sVCF5sEQ
— Jukan (@Jukanlosreve) October 9, 2025
Meta currently leads the smart glasses race, forcing Apple to shelve its high-end Vision Pro upgrade and redirect efforts toward developing lightweight, AI-powered eyewear. This shift followed the launch of Meta’s new Ray-Ban Display smart glasses, featuring a built-in screen that lets users read messages, watch clips, follow directions, and view live translations. The display delivers an impressive 42 pixels per degree—sharper than any consumer VR headset Meta has released to date.
Priced at $800, the glasses use a proprietary light source and waveguide capable of producing up to 5,000 nits of brightness, ensuring clarity indoors and outdoors alike. A companion device, the Meta Neural Band, acts as a motion-control interface, translating subtle hand gestures into commands using electromyography to detect nerve signals between the brain and hand. Together, these technologies hint at a future where we might check our messages, navigate, or even work—all through a pair of glasses.
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