Zuckerberg's Ten-Year Bet: Can Meta End the Smartphone Era with a Pair

In the seventeenth year since smartphones became an extension of ourselves, the most radical innovator in Silicon Valley is challenging the dominance of the handheld device once again. "Within a decade, people will淘汰smartphones just as they forgot flip phones," declared Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the Connect Conference, with a virtual AR glasses display behind him.

The "iPhone Moment" for Smart Glasses: Evolution from Gadget to Tool

Walking into a Ray-Ban store in San Francisco's Mission District, Meta's $299 smart glasses are quietly rewriting the wearable device narrative. Housed in classic Wayfarer frames, they feature a 12MP ultra-wide camera and open-ear speakers. They represent a "frictionless connection" reducing screen dependence. "Currently, they're smartphone extensions," admits Meta's hardware head Alex Himel, showing the touchpad on the glasses' leg. But with waveguide display breakthroughs, users might soon see floating 4K video windows 5 meters ahead. Supply chain sources reveal the Hypernova, with embedded Micro LED arrays, is undergoing its tenth iteration at Foxconn.

Supernova Strategy: Conquering the Sports Market

While tech media debates AR glasses' necessity, Meta has partnered with the world's largest eyewear group, EssilorLuxottica. The 2025 Supernova 2, co-branded with Oakley, integrates bone conduction headphones and motion sensors into the Sphaera series for cyclists. Imagine real-time HUD displays of heart rates and navigation during 35 km/h rides. The product matrix includes a $299 base model for habit cultivation, a $999 Hypernova for tech enthusiasts, and the developer-focused Orion kit with full-color laser projection and millimeter-wave gesture recognition.

Disappearing Phones and Uncontrolled Anxiety: A Compute Power Migration War

At Meta's Reality Labs in Palo Alto, engineers are tackling AR's "holy grail" challenge: condensing iPhone 15 Pro-level compute power into 8-gram frames. The current Orion prototype still relies on external compute modules and touch wristbands. MIT's Hiroshi Ishii presents more radical solutions like myoelectric sensors for silent control and LiDAR-equipped earbuds for contextual awareness. Despite IDC data showing AR glasses accounting for less than 0.2% of smartphone shipments in 2023, Zuckerberg's strategy involves three stages: cultivating AR content habits with social filters, occupying office spaces with Workrooms, and finally positioning glasses as the digital world's entrance.

Written on the Glasses Leg: From Wearable to "Invisible"

At Apple's Vision Pro lab in Cupertino, researchers are exploring retinal projection technology. In Redmond, Microsoft quietly restarted the HoloLens 3 project. Meanwhile, in Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei, AR glasses with domestic optical chips are available for $199. This battle for human retinas is redefining mobile internet. When conversing with Meta's chief designer Sarah, she removed her prototype glasses: "In five years, you won't even notice someone wearing AR devices." She tapped the frame, and suddenly a 3D design appeared on the meeting room wall. True victory isn't replacing phones, but making technology disappear from sight.

Perhaps Zuckerberg's ten-year prediction is too ambitious, but the Z-generation lining up to experience AR glasses is voting with their feet. They raise smartphones to record the experience, a scene reminiscent of digital cameras capturing the last batch of film cameras.