Facebook is not going to let Apple Glass have the smart glasses space all to itself: at Oculus Connect (the same event where the company unveiled its new Oculus Quest 2 VR headset), Facebook announced plans to release its own consumer smart glasses as part of a partnership with sunglass maker announced plans to release its own smart glasses for consumers as part of a partnership with Ray-Ban.

There are several important differences between what Facebook and Apple are working on, besides the fact that Apple has yet to confirm rumors about Apple Glass. While Apple Glass will reportedly rely heavily on augmented reality, Facebook told The Verge that its glasses are not classified as augmented reality and will not feature an integrated display.

Still, the glasses are part of Facebook's work in the inclusive AR space, and the consumer-oriented glasses will build on a prototype of the underlying research called Project Aria.

The current Aria prototype reveals a Wayfarer-like design with a thick frame, what appears to be dual cameras placed next to both lenses, and an overall heavy mold that appears to curve inward toward the head. Andrew Bosworth, VP of Reality Labs at Facebook, calls it "the first truly fashionable smart glasses," but we don't know what it will look like beyond this prototype. [This is in contrast to what has been rumored about Apple Glass. Apple's AR specifications seem to focus more on how the display interacts with the real world. In fact, a recent patent explains that Apple Glass might even be able to chroma-key backgrounds on the fly and sync with the iPhone to display texts, emails, games, maps, and show users pertinent information.

Another Apple patent even shows the possibility that the glasses could adjust themselves without the need for corrective lenses by using an "optical subassembly." This could have important implications for users who need corrective lenses.

Facebook's efforts should beat Apple's. Facebook is targeting next year, but most analysts believe that whatever final form the project takes, we will not see Apple Glass until 2022 or 2023.

It is unclear at this point exactly what other differences there are between the Facebook and Apple projects, but it is clear that Facebook is trying to make this Glass a priority while solidifying its presence in other virtual spaces. For example, the new Oculus Quest 2 headset is an all-in-one wireless VR headset that is smaller and lighter than the original Quest.

It features a higher-resolution display and costs just $299, making it even cheaper than the original headset. The device will be available next month, and you can pre-order the Oculus Quest 2 now.

With any new project or introduction comes some loss. During Facebook Connect, the company also stated that it will discontinue the Oculus Rift S headset; since the Oculus Quest 2 is an improved version that can also be tethered to a PC via the Oculus Link feature, Facebook considers the old product superfluous Facebook seems to consider the old product superfluous.