Meta is betting on 2025 as a make-or-break year for its Reality Labs VR/AR unit. CTO Andrew “Boz” Bosworth called it “the pivotal year” during a Bloomberg interview Thursday.
The push follows strong sales for Meta’s Ray-Ban AI glasses. Since launching in October 2023, Meta has moved over 2 million pairs, outselling standard Ray-Bans even before adding AI features.
Competitors aren’t waiting. Google announced Android XR smart glasses partnerships with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker last month. Apple reportedly plans its own smart glasses debut in 2026. 
Bosworth highlighted the pressure from competition but emphasized execution. He credited ex-Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg for a key lesson.
“Sheryl used to always talk about how most companies don’t fail because they got beaten by a competitor,” Boz said. “Most companies fail because they didn’t execute their own plan correctly. And so what I try to do with the team is really focus us, not so much on the competitive landscape as on [whether] we’re executing to our standards.”
Meta already has ambitious plans for the year and is tracking well on them.
“What we’ll know by the end of the year is whether we executed on our plan or not,” Boz said. “What we’ll know in five years time is whether that was enough.”
The market’s final verdict on Meta’s AR/VR future will come over time. But 2025 is shaping up as the showdown year.
