Ray-Ban Stories and Snapchat Spectacles: Why VR Glasses May Replace Your Phone

With the recent announcements of the new Snapchat Spectacles 3, as well as the Facebook X Ray-Ban smartglasses called “Stories”, we have officially entered a new phase in the consumer tech space. While the concept of sunglasses that have the same capabilities/functionality as the modern smartphone has existed for a while—and was even tested by large companies such as Google—it is only now that the idea seems more realistic. 

Before we dive deeper into how these smart glasses will look and who might be the biggest companies creating the future of consumer tech, let’s analyze the evolution of the devices we use the most today. All these devices are right now merged in one: the smartphone. 

Take the phone for example. Invented in 1876, the phone was clunky and heavy at first. Not only were phones difficult to use, but they were also difficult to access. Having a phone was a luxury not many had, as the cost was too high and the infrastructure was not there. Apartment buildings used to have one phone through which everyone in the building contacted other people. If you were to explain this concept to people who use smartphones every day, it would sound absurd.

Fast forward to today and the difference in the devices we use is drastic. We have smartphones through which we call people, listen to music, browse the internet and more. We look at the screen for hours every day and have created digital parallel lives, whether we realize it or not.

However, the next step in our digital evolution may come in a different form entirely: “Smartglasses."  The next consumer tech product must be something familiar with minimal user friction, and eyewear seems the logical fit. Everyone uses some form of eyewear.

While looking at a phone screen is engaging and fun, smartglasses will take digital reality to a new level. Watching directions on your phone is one thing, but looking at arrows directly on the street as if they’re painted there is something else. Other concepts—such as watching a movie while waiting for your friend to arrive in the Uber—are possible. What you consider “reality” and “digital reality” or simply "social media” will completely change. When the new reality is more fun for you, who is to say that isn’t the actual one? While we used to think that our real life was separated from the “portal” to the other world (the smartphone, in this case), smartglasses will merge these two worlds into one. 

As has been the case in consumer tech, every product is approached through a social aspect. This case is no exception, as two companies who seem to be pushing the most in this direction are two social media giants: Facebook and Snapchat. While their profiles may be similar, their approaches are different.

Meanwhile, Snapchat has created its own in-house glasses called Spectacles. Recently, they presented the newest version of Spectacles and sent them to influencers in order to get feedback. As for specs, their price tag is 380$, with a 4GB memory capacity, the ability to take pictures, record videos and augment animations in the glasses. The capabilities of Spectacles clearly show that the engineering progress made by companies such as Snapchat and Facebook—through their Stories product—is expected to match or even surpass the similar industrial design advancements made in the recent decades.