Meta’s AR Ambitions: WhatsApp as a Strategic Edge in the Smart Glasses Race?

Meta is making a bold bid to define the next era of computing through augmented reality (AR).

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly stated that AR smart glasses – especially when powered by advanced AI – could become the “next computing platform,” much like smartphones did a decade ago.

Achieving this vision will require not just cutting-edge hardware and AI, but also an ecosystem that keeps people constantly connected.

This is where WhatsApp – the world’s most popular messaging network, which Meta owns – becomes a linchpin of Meta’s AR strategy!

In this post, I’ll analyze Meta’s ambitions in AR, and how its global messaging dominance via WhatsApp gives it a unique strategic advantage over rivals in the smart glasses space.

I’ll cover Meta’s AR vision and recent developments, the role of WhatsApp in AR, Meta’s long-term platform strategy, and why Meta is playing a long game of platform dominance rather than short-term hardware profits.