Could smart glasses be the new default way into XR?

Two hardware announcements this autumn suggest the headset may not be the default way into XR for much longer.

Meta's VR Glasses arrive in spring 2027 at $1,299. The glasses themselves weigh around 100g. The processing and battery move into a puck that sits in your pocket on a cable. Meta is pitching them as a portable cinema and workspace as much as a VR device.

Snap's Specs are close to shipping at $2,195 and take a different route. They're true AR glasses with everything built into the frames: no puck, no cable. Snap's demos lean heavily on learning and creative applications.

Neither is priced for mainstream adoption, and neither is pretending to be. What interests us more is what a lighter, glasses-shaped device does for the audiences we build for.

At events and exhibitions, much of the hesitation around XR has nothing to do with the content. It comes from strapping a headset on in front of other people. Something closer to a pair of glasses lowers that barrier, and that changes who steps up to try an experience.

Specs in particular look suited to work that happens away from a desk. That includes multiplayer experiences at events, product demos in a business meeting, and an augmented layer on in-person training. We'll be watching both closely once they're in people's hands rather than on a demo stand.

For further reading, here's hands-on reports from CNET and Lifehacker.

We'd be curious: is the headset what holds your audience back from XR, or is it something else?