Meta confirms Reality Labs layoffs and shifts to invest more in wearables

Around 10 percent of Meta’s Reality Labs division, which develops its XR products and services, will be laid off beginning on Tuesday, as reported by Bloomberg.

Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton confirmed the layoffs in a statement to The Verge: “We said last month that we were shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward Wearables. This is part of that effort, and we plan to reinvest the savings to support the growth of wearables this year.”

Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses have stolen the spotlight from its VR headsets in recent years, especially with last year’s launch of the Meta Ray-Ban Display. As Bloomberg also reported on Tuesday, Meta may be planning to double its production capacity for its AI smart glasses by the end of 2026 in response to surging demand. So, it might not come as a surprise that Meta’s pivoting to focus more on wearables, and less on the largely-forgotten metaverse.

Meta is not abandoning the metaverse completely, though. According to Bloomberg, an internal memo from Meta’s chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth also mentioned a shift in the company’s metaverse strategy. Rather than being a VR-first social platform, the metaverse will be focused more on mobile devices moving forward.