Ross Gerber Sees Meta's Smart Glasses As the First Step Toward Ditching Your Phone
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The Vision Is Coming Into Focus
Over the weekend, investor Ross Gerber gave Meta Platforms Inc. (META) some high praise that doubles as a reminder of just how long Mark Zuckerberg has been playing this game. Gerber, who runs Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, posted on X that Meta's smart glasses give him "hope" he'll be able to ditch his smartphone "one day soon."
That's not just optimistic chatter. It's basically the same vision Zuckerberg laid out ten years ago when he was explaining why Facebook dropped more than $2 billion on Oculus. Back in 2015, he argued that every decade brings a new computing platform, and that virtual and augmented reality would eventually push mobile aside. The future, he said, wouldn't be about still photos or 2D videos—it would be about experiences integrated directly into your field of view.
Meta and Ray-Ban Are Scaling Up Fast
Meta rolled out two new models this past September. There's the $499 Oakley Meta Vanguard, designed for athletes, and the $799 Ray-Ban Meta Display, which comes with a built-in augmented reality screen. These aren't just experiments anymore.
In October, Francesco Milleri, CEO of Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica (ESLOF), said he sees smart glasses replacing smartphones entirely. To back that up, the company expects to crank out 10 million Ray-Ban Meta glasses annually by the end of next year. Meta currently holds a 3% stake in EssilorLuxottica and has poured roughly 3 billion euros into the partnership.
Great Hardware, But What Do You Actually Do With It?
Here's where things get interesting. Analysts Gene Munster and Brian Baker tested the new glasses this week and came away impressed by the hardware—but also a bit confused about what to use them for. They said they were "blown away" by Meta's tech, then quickly realized there was "not much to do" with the device.
The glasses excel at showing notifications, but beyond that, they don't offer much you can't already get from your phone or smartwatch. Voice dictation was "buggy," photo quality didn't measure up to smartphone cameras, and the AI kept misidentifying objects. So yes, the vision is compelling. The execution still has some catching up to do.
The Long Game
What makes Gerber's comments noteworthy is the timeline. Zuckerberg made his prediction about AR glasses back when Facebook was still called Facebook. A decade later, we've got actual products that hint at that future—even if they're not quite ready to replace the device in your pocket.
The hardware is getting there. The software and everyday usefulness? That's still a work in progress. But if Meta and EssilorLuxottica hit their production targets and keep refining the experience, Gerber's hope might not be so far-fetched after all.
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