The glasses under the Oakley brand, internally named “Supernova 2”, will be based on the Sphaera glasses. Instead of placing cameras on the side, Supernova 2 will move the camera to the center of the frame. The idea is to appeal to cyclists and other athletes involved in outdoor sports. The report does not detail other potential features, although Oakley glasses will supposedly have similar characteristics to the current Ray-Ban Meta glasses.
Oakley, like Ray-Ban, is a subsidiary of eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica. The decision to extend the Meta technology to other brands under the EssilorLuxottica umbrella is a very smart one. While Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are well suited for discreet everyday wear, they are a bit heavy for endurance sports and lack certain features such as polarized lenses for better visibility. Oakleys are also considered stylish and popular among professional athletes. Conceptually, they are similar to the now-discontinued Bose Frames Tempo, which allowed athletes to have open-backed headphones with polarized lenses in a relatively lightweight form factor. Nevertheless, if the goal is to attract athletes, Meta and Oakley will likely need to pay attention to factors such as weight, sweat resistance, and battery life.
The report also notes that Meta plans to release a more advanced version of its Ray-Ban glasses that will include a display capable of delivering notifications, running simple apps, and viewing photos.
