Meta privately admits its Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses aren't getting much face time
Less than 10 percent of owners actively use their sunglasses.
No matter the level of success a tech company has seen for certain products, at least one device always fails to meet expectations after launch. Amazon experienced this for its quickly discontinued Fire phone, and Meta is seeing it for everything from disinterest in the Metaverse to, reportedly, Ray-Ban Stories, its smart sunglasses. According to an internal Meta document viewed by The Wall Street Journal, less than ten percent of people with Ray-Ban Stories regularly use the product.
Ray-Ban sold about 300,000 of the glasses between their launch in September 2021 and February 2023 — when Meta conducted the report. At that time, there were only 27,000 monthly active users, with the company citing issues such as poor connectivity and issues with battery life. Yes, these people already bought the sunglasses, so that's something for the companies, but the low retention doesn't exactly instill confidence in continual sales. Meta's Reality Labs division, which the Ray-Ban partnership falls under, isn't doing well either, with an almost $8 million loss over the first half of 2023.
However, Meta is set to release a new generation of Ray-Ban Stories in either the fall or spring. Apparently, the new glasses will have improved battery life and cameras and be available in more than the current three sunglass models. While the first generation is available for $299, there's no word yet on how the next version of Ray-Ban Stories will be priced.
