Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica says Meta smart glasses are boosting growth

EssilorLuxottica has revealed that a significant portion of its revenue growth in the third quarter can be attributed to its collaboration with Meta, particularly through its Ray-Ban brand, which focuses on the development and sale of smart glasses. CFO Stefano Grassi highlighted during the company's earnings call that, "Clearly there is a lift coming from Ray-Ban Meta wearables as a product category." The European eyewear leader reported an 11.7% year-over-year sales increase, totaling 6.9 billion euros (approximately $8 billion), compared to 6.44 billion euros a year prior. Notably, over four percentage points of this growth stemmed from the wearables segment, which includes products developed with Meta. The partnership began in 2019 when Meta and Luxottica joined forces to create Ray-Ban branded smart glasses. Recently, the collaboration expanded with Luxottica's Oakley brand, which introduced the Oakley Meta HSTN smart glasses in June. Additionally, reports indicate that the companies are working on a smart glasses version under the Prada label. Luxottica, which also manages other well-known brands like Vogue Eyewear and Persol, is vigorously promoting internet-connected glasses compatible with Meta's AI-driven digital assistant. These innovative glasses enable users to listen to music, capture photos, and execute various tasks akin to smartphone functionalities. Grassi expressed a strong belief in the future of glasses, stating, "We believe that glasses will materially replace most of the functionality that today we have embedded into our phones." This outlook aligns with comments from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who asserted that context-aware personal devices like glasses will evolve into primary computing tools. As the fourth quarter begins, Grassi conveyed optimism, particularly due to the recent launch of various new products showcased at the Meta Connect event. Among these was the $799 Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, featuring a small digital interface operated by a neural technology wristband. Other introductions included the $499 Oakley Meta Vanguard and $379 Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) glasses. Grassi noted that the sales increase in North America during the third quarter was more influenced by the popularity of Ray-Ban Meta glasses than by tariff-related price hikes. He anticipates reaching the original target of 10 million units sold by the end of 2026 sooner than expected. He emphasized that the wearables ecosystem promises not only hardware-related revenue but also potential income from lenses and AI-based services in the future. Following this announcement, EssilorLuxottica's shares rose by 2.4% on Thursday. Furthermore, EssilorLuxottica is not alone in the smart glasses arena; other tech giants are also making strides. In May, Alphabet partnered with Warby Parker to develop smart glasses utilizing Google's Gemini AI. Similarly, Alibaba launched its smart glasses in July, powered by its Quark AI assistant, with reports of Apple and OpenAI also working on their own smart glasses.