The project had been viewed by many as a potential rebound for the mixed-reality space, especially following the lukewarm reception of the Apple Vision Pro. Despite all the buzz around Apple’s $3,499 headset, its clunky design and steep price tag proved to be major barriers to widespread adoption. Even early adopters and tech enthusiasts found the device impressive in theory — the display quality, the seamless hand tracking — but difficult to justify in practice.
Enter this new wave of lightweight, wearable tech: smart glasses that actually look and feel like something you’d want to wear in public. Instead of immersing users in a full alternate reality, these devices take a more approachable path — layering small, useful digital interactions onto your everyday experience. They’re less about replacing your world, and more about quietly enhancing it.
That’s what makes recent developments like Coperni’s collaboration and the Ray-Ban Meta glasses intriguing. They’re not trying to be the next Vision Pro; instead, they might be solving for its weaknesses. Subtle, wearable, and (crucially) stylish, these glasses hint at a future where tech is less obtrusive and more seamlessly integrated into what we already wear.
If Apple’s headset aimed for the moon and fell a bit short, these next-gen smart glasses might just be walking us steadily toward a more wearable future.
