Meta’s iPhone moment is taking shape… on your face

Welcome to AI Collision 💥,

*Apologies for the delayed send for AI Collision today, a minor problem with the backend meant it didn’t send at our 5pm normal schedule. Anywho… on with today’s show…

In today’s collision between AI and our world:

• April 2024, I made a bold prediction
• September 2024, I said it again
• September 2025… it happened

If that’s enough to get the crystal ball firing up, read on…

AI Collision 💥

It looks like Meta’s long-teased “Orion” project is leaking into the real world.

A new video has surfaced showing smart glasses that merge Meta’s existing Ray-Ban and Oakley collaboration with something far more ambitious… a heads-up augmented reality (AR) display.

I’m on record saying I like the Meta Ray-Ban collaboration. I’ve tried them on, I like them, they feel good to wear. The only thing holding me back from getting some was they weren’t high tech enough.

I wanted to see a heads up display, some visual AR in my Meta glasses before I decided to buy. And I had suspected that would be an eventuality down the track with Meta pursuing their Orion project.

Well, now it looks like that’s happening far sooner than I had expected. No longer just a stylish pair of shades with a camera and microphone, these leaks suggest Meta’s AI-powered assistant will be projected into your field of view, layered over the real world.

The era of the nice looking, and functional smart glasses is here.

And, I kinda saw it coming…

If this all sounds familiar, that’s because it’s exactly what I’ve been flagging for more than a year. Back in April 2024, I wrote in AI Collision:

“… another piece of Meta tech, its Ray-Ban glasses, are now also integrating Meta’s AI into their function too.

This is Meta’s smart glasses. And now with AI this is the kind of form factor that we want to see from the next generation of devices.”

Then in September 2024, when news of Orion and Meta’s wearable wrist band surfaced, I said this:

“This may very well be Meta’s iPhone moment. I expect that in the next few years, this is the catalyst for what takes the company up to and past the market cap of Apple.”

Fast-forward to today, and this leaked footage yesterday looks like the moment those two paths (the Ray-Ban/Oakley partnership and the Orion research line) have finally converged.

The relationship with Ray-Ban was always a stepping stone. Cool branding, an easy way to get consumers to try the form factor. The Oakley tie-up signals something a little more aggressive, a more technical, performance-driven device that doesn’t just look good but can compete in sports, work, and daily life.

But these aren’t Google Glass 2.0. Meta has been training its assistant on billions of images, contexts, and interactions. Imagine being able to glance at a restaurant and see reviews appear instantly, or look at a product and get price comparisons in real time. I’m on the golf course and want to visualise the wind direction, it will all be there for me.

Voice-to-AI was step one. Overlaying that information visually, seamlessly, into your field of vision is step two.

That’s the leap from “toy” to “tool.” That’s what gets someone like me buying, that’s Meta’s iPhone moment.

And this is why I’ve said repeatedly that Meta is quietly winning the AI race where it actually matters, consumer adoption. While OpenAI and Anthropic battle over enterprise deals and large-language-model benchmarks, Meta is strapping AI onto your head.

They went open source with their AI models because they didn’t need an AI LLM app to generate profits, they had that in the bank with their core business, it freed them up to focus on what wins the long term race, the end consumer with a device, and entire ecosystem of Meta AI in and around you all the time.

The market is finally starting to get it too I think…

When I first wrote about Meta “winning” AI, the stock traded at $443. Today it’s 73% higher. The company is now worth $1.89 trillion. Apple, by comparison, sits at $3.51 trillion.

Do the math. If this really is Meta’s iPhone moment, then the catch-up potential is obvious.

Apple changed the world with the smartphone because it was the perfect intersection of design, utility, and timing.

Meta has been pilloried for its obsession with the metaverse, but what if all of that was simply a long, expensive R&D phase that leads to the first truly mass-market AR device?

The leaked glasses show it’s no longer about speculative maybes, it’s preparing to ship consumer hardware.

Of course, there are hurdles. Battery life, display brightness outdoors, privacy backlash—all of these issues will surface no doubt. Regulators will bristle at the idea of Meta literally recording what you see and hear all day. Apple and Google will counter with their own AR plays.

Even OpenAI and their work with Jony Ive still is going to drop something pretty big on us all.

But the sheer momentum of Meta is hard to ignore. If Meta nails this product, they create an ecosystem just as sticky as the iPhone. Developers will build apps. Brands will design AR experiences. Consumers will default to AI-assisted eyewear as naturally as they once defaulted to smartphones.

Meta isn’t just experimenting anymore. They’re converging AI, AR, and the brand that comes with the likes of Ray-Ban and Oakley brand a single consumer product. The genius is, if you were to buy a smart glasses, the style and brand-conscious are likely going to side with Ray-Ban or Oakley over Google or Amazon. The tie up here for brand recognition and awareness is a genius move by Meta.

What it looks like Meta is about to release is the embodiment of everything I’ve been predicting.

So, call it what it is, Meta’s iPhone moment coming to life.

And if you’ve been following along since last year, you’ll know my view hasn’t changed. Meta is on track to overtake Apple because of it.

#AD

A NEW Silver Boom is Underway

After years in the doldrums, silver is at its highest price in over a decade.

But now, with silver being the ONE critical metal powering AI semiconductors…

And global deficits hitting 400 million ounces…

One of the world’s foremost precious metal analysts predicts silver could be about to surge to $200 an ounce.

In fact, he believes this move could kick off before September 17th — off the back of a surprise announcement from the Federal Reserve.

*Capital at risk

Boomers & Busters 💰

AI and AI-related stocks moving and shaking up the markets this week. (All performance data below over the rolling week).

Boom 📈

• Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS) up 29%
• Micron (NASDAQ:MU) up 20%
• Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) up 18%

Bust 📉

• Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) down 0.5%
• Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) down 2%
• Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) down 4%

From the hive mind 🧠

• The “largest immigration dragnet in history” to capture and mass deport illegal migrants in the US. Sounds ominous. Sounds like it needs a lot of manpower… unless you’re using AI of course!
• The Nepalese revolution by Gen Z’ers who then chose a new leader via a Discord channel is one thing… blackmailing your elected leaders via AI deepfake blackmail is another.
• I’ve written at length before about how I think Anduril is going to be one of the biggest IPOs in history. This only reaffirms it, underwater “Ghost Shark” attack drones… oh yeah that’s kind cool.

Artificial Polltelligence 🗳️

Weirdest AI image of the day

ChatGPT’s random quote of the day

Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to leave comments and questions below,

Sam Volkering

Editor-in-Chief

AI Collision