Double Vision: Glasses vs Headsets in 2024

In the past few months, we’ve seen some major AR glasses announcements: Snap unveiled its next-generation “Spectacles,” and Meta showed off an impressive internal research project called “Orion.” 

Both use roughly comparable technology. Of the two, Orion appears lighter, more capable, and more “aesthetically normal.” On the other hand, Spectacles are available for people other than Jensen Huang and Gary Vaynerchuck to use right now.

What the heck is going on here? Why is everyone suddenly glazing glasses?

The Headset Divide

To back up a bit, AR (or XR if you prefer) hardware comes in two main flavors: pass-through and see-through, or, to put it differently, “headsets” and “glasses.”

Headsets are what you think of when you hear the term “Virtual Reality.” These are socially isolating techno-blindfolds that have recently learned a new trick: they have cameras looking out so the wearer can see the real world around them when needed. Apple’s “Vision Pro” is probably the most polished example of this approach to date.

Glasses are generally less dorky (Google Glass notwithstanding), and the latest versions look more like chunky glasses where the wearer can see the real world through the lenses, with digital imagery overlaid.

To oversimplify this: headsets provide a more realistic experience for the wearer, at the cost of making them look silly to the rest of the world. Glasses look more natural to the outside world, but the experience for the wearer is less immersive (and will be for the foreseeable future.)

Can there be only one?

Some “futurists” predict that one day we won’t need headsets, and there will only be cool-looking, lightweight glasses (or even contact lenses) that can provide all of the benefits of today’s headsets without the dorky form factor.

This all sounds great and certainly echoes science fiction (Rainbows End comes to mind), but I have yet to hear anyone with a deep understanding of the tech even hint about this happening in any reasonable timeframe.

The big tech players in the space (Meta, Google, etc) have tipped their hands that this stalemate may last a while - they are hedging their bets by pursuing both types of devices. Literally at the same event where Meta showed off Orion, they introduced their next mass-market headset, the Quest 3S.

So what next?

For the next few years, I think glasses and headsets will continue to evolve their strengths and stake out the use cases where they each shine.

Headsets will be the best choice for situations where realistic and/or immersive visuals are critical. Things like hands-on training, walking through architectural designs, exposure therapy, in-home fitness, and, of course, high-end gaming will be best experienced on headsets.

Glasses will be for more out-of-home tasks, and subtle interactions like wayfinding, text or video reference, media recording, and browsing.

So where headsets will replace some of the tasks we currently use computers or gaming consoles for, glasses will take on more of the tasks we currently do with phones.

And just as smartphones didn’t completely replace laptops for all tasks, glasses and headsets will continue to coexist, each playing a unique role in how we work, play, and connect.

I think, ultimately, this means a higher ceiling for glasses than headsets, even if they will always lag behind in graphics quality.

Meta is currently running an interesting product experiment integrating live AI with their Ray-Ban glasses. 

If they are even moderately successful, and a pair of glasses without any display at all can be a useful product - they will have established a pretty low graphics bar to overcome for the next generation!

Time will tell how this all shakes out, but it will be interesting to see how 2025 unfolds!