Key takeaways:
- Consumers are more familiar with smart eye wear than they were 2 years ago.
- Social media is the main driver of awareness, and nearly half said they would buy smart eye wear online.
LAS VEGAS — Consumer awareness of smart eye wear has nearly doubled in the last 2 years, and four in 10 people now say they would consider a purchase in the next 12 months, according to a report from the Vision Council.
“We’re in an emerging to maturing market. Smart eye wear is definitely having a moment,” Alysse Henkel, vice president of research and insights at the Vision Council, told Healio at Vision Expo West. “We’ll see more new products come to market by end of year.”
The report, called Focused inSights 2025: Smart Eyewear, included survey data from more than 4,000 U.S. adults. It found that 58% of respondents said they knew about smart eye wear or had a general sense of it, up from 29% in a 2023 report. More than half (56%) said they had favorable impressions of smart eye wear.
The brands with the largest increases in awareness were Amazon Echo Frames and Ray-Ban Meta AI Glasses, according to a press release. Social media platforms were the primary place consumers had heard about smart glasses, with 49% reporting YouTube in particular.
Read more: More consumers aware of smart eye wear
Source: Healio