Meta’s smart glasses outsell traditional Ray-Bans in some stores, even before AI features roll out

The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are the top selling product in 60% of all Ray-Ban stores throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, according to Upload VR. The detail came from EssilorLuxottica CFO Stefano Grassi, who revealed during the eyewear giant’s earnings call last week that Ray-Ban Meta proved to be a significant driver for the company’s sales.

In Europe, Meta has yet to rollout multimodal AI features for its Ray-Ban smart glasses, citing a lack of clarity from regulators in the EU. The company says it’s committed to bringing all of its Meta AI features to Europe at some point, but the current lack of AI features doesn’t appear to be hindering Ray-Ban Meta’s sales in the region. It’s possible some consumers are drawn to the glasses’ speakers and cameras more than its AI capabilities anyway.

In any case, the Ray-Ban Meta glasses are proving to be a larger success than Meta originally expected. That early traction may have been a factor in Meta expanding its partnership with EssilorLuxotica into the next decade.