Meta’s Ray-Ban Display Glasses Faces Hold Up in Europe Over Removeable Battery

The Meta Ray-Ban Displays. The lenses act as a viewfinder for the camera, and they can also be used as a teleprompter. But they’re not available outside of the U.S.

In January, Meta revealed it was pausing international rollout for its new Ray-Ban Display Glasses, citing supply concerns. That might not be the only issue.

A new report from Bloomberg suggests that Meta may have hit a snag with the European Union and new repairability laws coming into effect next year.

From 2027, many devices will be required to be sold with removable batteries in a bid to extend the life of electronic goods. Meta is seeking an exemption for its smart glasses, which are manufactured in collaboration with its EU-based partner, EssilorLuxottica SA.

Adding a removable battery to the glasses will make the devices larger since it requires a battery door, which is sub-optimal for design. But as Gizmodo notes, there are smart glasses on the market that come with removable batteries, including the Inmo Go 3.

But Meta is objecting to the EU’s battery rule, saying it will hurt other wearable devices, not just glasses.

“Where is the one place in the world that you can’t sell these glasses? The European Union. Why? Because the battery isn’t removable,” Andrew Puzer, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union said this week, per Bloomberg.

AI Concerns

The removable battery isn’t the only problem Meta has with selling its latest smart glasses in Europe. The EU’s AI Act is wide-reaching legislation that looks at how much risk an AI feature poses.

Exactly which of the smart glasses’ AI features might fall foul of the new regulations is hard to say, but since they use computer vision that is based on AI deep learning, some of the features available to Americans may not be available to Europeans.

This week, Meta laid off “several hundred” people from its VR division Reality Labs as it leaves the much-maligned metaverse behind and pivots toward AI. At least 2,500 people have been laid off this year, almost all of them from the VR division.

While Meta’s smart glasses are certainly attracting plenty of criticism, they’re proving to be far more popular than all-encompassing virtual reality goggles ever were.

Image credits: Meta