Perhaps the most interesting technology in the Meta Ray-Ban display is the glass

At iFixit Breaking out Meta’s Ray-Ban viewing glassesHe revealed that the technology inside is not what makes it special, but rather the glass industry. iFixit explains that the glass lenses use a reflective geometric waveguide system that reflects some of the light back to the wearer’s eyes at specific angles via partially reflective mirrors, which helps prevent other people from getting a glimpse of the screen when they look at you.

This works in conjunction with the small projector on the right arm, a liquid crystal-on-silicon (LCoS) device that bounces light from three LEDs to provide a 600 x 600-pixel retina image. Geometric waveguide lenses differ from older “diffraction” systems used in other AR glasses, which bend and split light instead, sometimes causing the user to see small rainbow artifacts or flashes of “eye-glow” light at onlookers. The downside is that the glass used in Ray-Ban’s display is expensive to manufacture, with iFixit predicting that Meta may sell the glasses at a loss.

iFixit had to split the arms and frame in half to perform the disassembly process, noting that Meta did not provide a way to connect them back together in situations like battery replacement. “Any repairs here will need specialized skills and specialized tools,” Shahram Mokhtari, a disassembly technician at iFixit, said in the video, adding that “it is very clear that the first iterations of these smart glasses will be beyond repair.”