Ray-Ban Stories vs Snapchat Shows: Who Wants Facebook on Their Face?

Facebook recently introduced its first wearable: Ray-Ban Stories, smart sunglasses with built-in cameras, microphones and speakers. If this sounds familiar to you, maybe it’s because the bezels are quite similar to what Snapchat has been doing for the past five years with Spectacles. . Even the name, Ray-Ban Stories, looks like a big sub-tweet on Snap. But despite its lead, Spectacles has yet to be a big success for the company. And, with a price tag of $ 300 and Facebook’s name on the box, Ray-Ban Stories can also prove to be a tough sell.

The Shows and Ray-Ban Stories are something much more important to the social media companies that created them. Snapchat and Facebook hope to define the future of augmented reality, and are betting that camera-compatible sunglasses will help them achieve it.

But look closely, and companies have taken very different approaches. While the Ray-Ban Stories look quite a bit like regular Wayfarers, the Spectacles never looked like a typical pair of sunglasses. Snapchat has also been more ambitious in integrating its augmented reality effects into glasses. And the company recently started experimenting with a new set of augmented reality-capable specs, although they’re not for sale.

Non-AR “smart glasses” are still a niche product, but Ray-Ban Stories could be one of the best iterations yet. The frames make it easy to capture first-person photos and videos, and the built-in speakers sound surprisingly good. More importantly, they look more like designer sunglasses than a piece of tech. But Facebook’s reputation is hard to ignore, especially when you carry a camera it designed. on your real face.

But if you’re excited about the future of augmented reality and what might one day be possible, Ray-Ban Stories and Spectacles offer a fascinating glimpse into how two of the biggest social media platforms are planning to make it happen. .