Tipped by ChannelNews as a dud concept the Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses launched by Meta Platform, is dead in the water, with consumers who did buy the new glasses that allowed users to film people also giving up on the Ray Ban sunglasses.

Launched two years ago, leaked internal Ray Ban documents reveal that less than 10% of the glasses that were actually purchased are used today.

See our original story here.

Like their VR glasses currently being spruiked the Ray Ban glasses were described as being an important part of Meta’s hardware strategy.

The product was designed so that users could covertly take photos and secretly record video. The product has also experienced a 13% return rate when the industry average is less than 2%.

Apparently, users complained of poor connectivity, poor battery life, and problems importing media from the devices.

There were also issues with audio and the device failing to recognise voice commands.

“We’ll also need to better understand why users stop using their glasses, how to ensure we are encouraging new feature adoption, and ultimately how to keep our users engaged and retained,” the document said.

Ironically Meta and Ray Ban are going to have another crack at trying to flog the dud glasses with a V2 version tipped to be released shortly.

The smart glasses were developed in partnership with EssilorLuxottica, which makes and sells numerous types of glasses, including brands such as Ray-Ban and Oakley. A spokesman for EssilorLuxottica declined to comment.

Meta’s Reality Labs division that delivered the questionable glasses, has accumulated an operating loss of nearly $8 billion in the first six months of 2023.

Its operating loss is set “to increase meaningfully” in 2024, according to executives.

Meta executives see the Ray Ban glasses as a steppingstone product to augmented-reality glasses, which it hopes to release in the coming years.

It’s claimed that the second generation of the Ray-Ban Stories will come with improved battery life and better cameras and will be available on more models of Ray-Ban’s frames as well as Oakley frames.

Currently the glasses are selling in Australia at $699 at Vision Direct that are among the most expensive online retailers of glasses.

The Wall Street Journal who obtained the leaked document claim that Meta plans to improve the quality of the device and how users discover its features, according to the document.

Meta set a goal of 478,000-unit sales for the entire lifetime of Ray-Ban Stories. Another forecast in the document also shows a lower figure, predicting sales of 394,000 units.