Meta’s next wave of smart eyewear may trade surf-ready Wayfarers for runway energy, with reports pointing to a Prada collaboration that could make its upcoming AR glasses more fashion-forward than the Ray-Ban line that put Meta on the mainstream map.
Why Prada is a powerful partner
Prada’s eyewear lives under EssilorLuxottica, the world’s dominant frame maker behind Ray-Ban and Oakley. CNBC previously reported that Meta took a small stake—about 3%—in EssilorLuxottica to deepen co-development. That tee-up matters: access to the same manufacturing muscle that scaled Ray-Bans gives Meta the freedom to push bolder silhouettes without sacrificing quality or prescription support.
Prada’s portfolio favors thick acetate, assertive lines, and wider temples—design choices that happen to align with AR’s physical needs. More material means more space for batteries, speakers, and waveguides, while keeping weight balanced and the tech discreet. Where Ray-Ban’s heritage demands a classic look, Prada can normalize chunkier proportions that hide components in plain sight.
Design that makes AR disappear
AR glasses are a packaging problem as much as a product one. You need lens-mounted optics, cameras, microphones, antennas, and battery cells, all without looking like a headset. Prada’s Linea Rossa and other contemporary frames offer thicker temples for electronics, pronounced bridges to distribute weight, and flat inner surfaces that simplify mounting a waveguide and light engine.
EssilorLuxottica’s vast lens labs can cut prescription lenses that accommodate a projected image path. That’s a bigger deal than it sounds: past smart glasses forced wearers into odd lens geometries or limited prescriptions. Prada-branded frames could normalize AR for everyday wearers, including those who need custom lenses.
What “next-gen” likely brings
Reporting around Meta’s roadmap suggests two distinct products: a follow-up to the audio-first Ray-Bans with upgraded battery, cameras, and on-glass AI; and a new AR model with a color display, frequently linked to codenames like Hypernova or Celeste. The latter is rumored to project imagery to one eye—often the right—via a compact waveguide, trading full binocular immersion for slimmer style and lighter weight.
Expect tighter Qualcomm silicon tailored for glasses, beamforming speakers that reduce audio leakage, and privacy LEDs for cameras. If Meta leans Prada, those components can tuck into statement-making frames that read “luxury accessory” first and “gadget” second—an essential shift for mainstream adoption.
The control story: wristbands and watches
Gesture input is the other piece. Meta has demoed a neural wristband—often cited under the codename Ceres—that interprets subtle finger movements. It’s an elegant way to avoid voice commands in public, but a standalone band is a hard sell. That’s why a companion watch makes more sense, and supply-chain chatter from publications like DigiTimes has pointed to a Meta smartwatch that could embed the neural interface.
A Prada-branded watch twist would be savvy: fashion houses already sell timepieces, and a co-labeled wearable lets Meta turn a control accessory into a style statement. It also answers a simple consumer question: why wear a separate band if a premium watch can do it all?
Out-styling Ray-Ban without losing the crowd
Ray-Bans made smart glasses socially acceptable, but their classic shapes limit how much tech you can hide before the silhouette breaks. Prada gives Meta permission to go bolder—thicker temples for battery life, subtly flared edges to mask optics, and avant-garde frames that make space look intentional. That’s how you deliver a color display, always-on connectivity, and longer runtimes without crossing into “gadget goggles.”
Pricing chatter has the audio-only refresh staying in the familiar few-hundred-dollar band, while the AR pair could land closer to premium smartphone territory. Splitting the line this way keeps the Ray-Bans as the mass-market on-ramp and positions Prada as the aspirational flagship where fashion justifies the extra technology—and the sticker.
What to watch as Meta steps on the runway
Look for signals that Meta has solved three things: seamless prescription support, all-day comfort under 50-ish grams, and intuitive control without shouting at your glasses. Pay attention to whether the display stays bright outdoors, how well the speakers leak (or don’t) in quiet spaces, and what on-device AI can do offline—areas Meta executives have hinted are priorities in public Q&As.
If Prada really joins the party, it won’t just be a logo swap. It’s a design license to hide the hard parts of AR inside a piece of eyewear that people already want to wear. That, more than any spec sheet, is how Meta’s next-gen glasses could outstyle—and ultimately outsell—the Ray-Bans that started it all.