EssilorLuxottica CEO Mr Francesco Milleri says AI glasses could be the next consumer-tech giant and rival the iPhone, and that his company’s smart glasses could be the market leader.
In an interview on Bloomberg’s Italian-language podcast, “Quello Che i Soldi Non Dicono”, Milleri said glasses were “poised to become the central device in people’s lives, possibly replacing smartphones”.
EssilorLuxottica, owner of Ray-Ban and Oakley, has partnered with Meta Platforms to make and sell AI-equipped eyewear.
Just in the past couple of months, Meta reportedly paid AU$5.3 billion for a 3% stake in the eyewear giant.
“We could foresee in the near future hundreds of millions of smart glasses interconnected with each other, and with the people who wear them creating huge communities,” he told the podcast.
The company had expanded its manufacturing capacity and to produce 10 million Ray-Ban Meta units annually by the end of the year.
That is part of the company’s strategy to add wearables and medical technology to its offerings.
That part of the strategy generated an estimated €365 million (AU$650 million) in revenue for EssilorLuxottica in 2024, but that is tipped to €6 billion (AU$10.6 billion) by 2030, according to financial analysts.
