Samsung's Galaxy Glasses already have hot competition from new Meta Glasses

Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram, etc, today unveiled a major shakeup for its smart glasses strategy.

It has launched an in-house designed line simply called Meta Glasses that offer more styles and most importantly, are cheaper than the Ray-Ban and Oakley-branded models.

The latest Meta Ray-Ban models start at $379. The new Meta Glasses line starts at $299. They've been built in partnership with EssilorLuxottica and do not carry branding of any eyewear company. Not that Ray-Ban or Oakley will mind, they're both owned by EssilorLuxottica anyway.

Customers can choose from 26 styles across a range of colors, lenses, and frames. Meta has also brought some glamor to the lineup with a co-designed oval model called Meta Glasses by Kylie.

These are functionally quite similar to the existing Meta models with only one major difference. These are Meta's first smart glasses to offer the entirely reimagined Meta AI experience powered by the company's latest Muse Spark model.

This is as clear an indication as any that companies that are developing intelligent eyewear feel the need to fuse both fashion and affordability. Samsung's first foray into this segment involves a partnership with Google, Qualcomm along with eyewear brands Gentle Monster and Warby Parker.

The company is also developing a Galaxy-branded offering that it may launch in the second half of this year as the Galaxy Glasses. With the competition heating up and Meta offering far more styles and capabilities, the Galaxy Glasses will surely have their work cut out for them.

It's worth noting what Meta is doing underneath the pricing. It's establishing itself as a key brand in this category, independent of any eyewear partner, while simultaneously building a price floor that every competitor will have to negotiate.

This strategy puts Samsung squarely in its crosshairs, because Samsung approaches this market with a position that Meta simply does not have. Meta isn't a hardware player. Samsung is the world's leading smartphone vendor. It also makes wearable devices, TVs, monitors, smart home devices, and a lot more.

The ecosystem to connect all of these devices together is also being rapidly expanded. This provides Samsung considerable leverage compared to Meta. So the company behind Facebook and Instagram is leaning on its other strengths, and making a particularly interesting play on fashion.

The Kylie Jenner-designed model gives the lineup a breadth that no competitor currently matches. For a product category that lives or dies on whether people are willing to wear the device in public, aligning itself with such star power is a solid move.

Meta enjoys the dominant position because it was a first-mover with the Ray-Ban models. As the field is set to become more crowded, it needs to ensure that this lead is not surrendered. Samsung knows how quickly the market you once dominated can get crowded. It was once the only foldable smartphone manufacturer of substance while there are now countless Chinese rivals and Apple's due to get in on the action this year as well.

The timing pressure is real. Meta has the mainstream tier entirely to itself right now, but Samsung isn't too far behind. Google is independently pursuing a foothold in this space as it wants a bigger piece of the pie for Android XR. Apple is reportedly working on smart glasses as well that it may launch in a couple of years. This would be one of the biggest threats for Meta, particularly in the United States.

Meta has made it clear that it intends to be a serious player in this category. Samsung's offering will undoubtedly be measured up against Meta's diverse lineup of smartglasses.

Samsung arrives in this market where a pricing floor has already been set by a dominant player that's actively trying to outsmart the competition. Samsung wrote the rules for foldables, it may end up following ones written by Meta for smart glasses.