CTO Predicts 2025 as a Crucial Year for Meta’s Augmented and Virtual Reality Advancements

Okay, so get this—Meta’s tech guy, Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, one of the OG 15 engineers there, threw down a prediction not too long ago. He’s thinking 2025 might be the year things get really wild for Reality Labs, their zone for all things AR and VR. Either things will rock or crash, epic style. Kind of a coin flip, right?

Nowadays, Boz seems a bit more on the optimistic side of things. But hey, markets decide. Not him, not me, not even you reading this.

He was on Bloomberg Tech—one of those days you feel is a “do or die” moment, you know? Boz says this year is the turning point. That’s his gut feeling right now. And hey, surprise! Their AI Ray-Bans? People are loving those. He said they’ve flown off shelves, over 2 million sold since launch in October ’23, on top of good old Ray-Bans. And that was before even loading them with AI. Wild!

Then there’s Google hopping in with new buddies Gentle Monster and Warby Parker to drop some Android XR smart glasses. Oh, and Apple? They’re lurking in the shadows, maybe unveiling their own by 2026.

Boz says it feels like they’ve gone from shadows to spotlights, just like that. And yeah, competitors are watching. You make progress this year? It’s golden, more than any other year, he says.

But hey, competition’s just noise if folks don’t buy into Meta’s AR/VR stuff. Market’s got its ways—it lags behind in hardware, so watch those early signs, he reckons. Got a bit of wisdom from Sheryl Sandberg, too. She always said—companies don’t usually lose because others beat them. Nah, it’s because they mess up their own game. So that’s what he’s drilling into his team: don’t stress about the rivals, just stick to the plan.

Boz is pumped about the big plans they’ve got mapped out for this year. The litmus test? By year’s end, they’ll know if they nailed their goals. Five years down the line? Well, that’s when it’ll be clear if it made the splash they hoped for.

And that’s it, for now. Let’s see where this rollercoaster takes us.