Meta and Snap set go head to head as both prepare to unveil AR glasses at their annual events

It looks like September is shaping up to be an exciting month for tech rivals, Snapchat and Meta, as they both plan to unveil their augmented reality (AR) wearables.

The last time we saw Snap and Meta at loggerheads was when Snap's CEO, Evan Spiegel, rejected Meta's Mark Zuckerberg's $2 billion buyout. But according to The Verge, citing inside sources, we might see them battle it out for who has the better AR glasses at their annual events next month.

Based on these sources, Snap's CEO, Evan Spiegel, is expected to take center stage at the Partner Summit in Los Angeles on September 17th to unveil the fifth generation of Spectacles. Snap also revealed in a blog that the new Spectacles (as seen in the image below) will significantly improve on the previous model's 26.3° diagonal field-of-view and 30-minute battery life.

Just a week later, on September 25th, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg should unveil the Orion glasses at the Connect conference in Menlo Park. This reveal marks Meta's leap from their current Ray-Ban smart glasses (as seen in the image below) to full AR devices. Meta says the Orion AR glasses promise "high field-of-view immersion," hinting at an expansive display area for digital content.

Don't expect to see these high-tech specs in stores anytime soon, though, as both companies are producing limited quantities, mainly for developers and partners to experiment with first. Snap might make fewer than 10,000 units, while Meta's numbers could be even lower, says the insider source.

The challenge for both Snap and Meta, however, industry experts say, lies in packing immersive AR capabilities into a form factor resembling regular glasses. Current high-end AR devices like Magic Leap 2 still resemble bulky goggles rather than everyday eyewear. But as September approaches, tech enthusiasts are eager to see what these reveals might mean for the future of wearable AR technology.