The smart glasses race has finally started

SOME technology revolutions move exceedingly slowly. It has been 13 years since Google unveiled its ill-fated Glass, a form of computing display worn as spectacles.

With the latest smart glasses Meta showed off this week, some things have changed completely. Instead of the nerdy aesthetic of Google’s much-mocked gadget, Meta’s displays are embedded in thick frames from Ray-Ban. But in other ways, the latest glasses are an eerily close echo of what the online search group attempted in 2012, and a sign that a new device category the tech industry has long dreamt of may finally be ready to enter the mainstream.

The launch of the prosaically named Meta Ray-Ban Display has also sounded the starting gun for a new tech race. Google has a deal with another fashionable eyewear maker, Warby Parker, that is likely to lead to a line of smart glasses next year, while Snap has outlined a similar device for 2026 and Apple is reported to be closing in on a lightweight headset of its own.