Meta Says It’s Solving AR Experiences — Who Will Solve AR Payments?

Will consumers one day wear commerce on their faces?

Meta, which last week debuted its highly anticipated Orion augmented reality (AR) glasses, appears to think so.

Due to advances in technology and material science allowing Meta to leverage a refractive material called silicon carbide to create holographic AR displays laid atop real-life surroundings, an improvement over the existing “passthrough” techniques used by current virtual reality (VR) devices, AR glasses are gearing up to potentially become more than just an ill-fated and cumbersome tech fad.

“Nailing the form factor, delivering holographic displays, developing compelling AR experiences, creating new human-computer interaction (HCI) paradigms — and doing it all in one cohesive product — is one of the most difficult challenges our industry has ever faced,” said Meta in a statement, noting that the Orion AR team believed it had “less than a 10% chance” of pulling it off successfully.

Now, per the same statement, Meta is calling its AR device the “north star” of wearable connection.

And if AR glasses like Meta’s do become the next big thing, rather than going the way of Google Glass, they’ll usher in an era of highly customized commerce, where the consumer journey is as interactive as it is instantaneous. But this leap forward in how we shop won’t be complete without a corresponding revolution in how users pay and transact.

After all, traditional payment systems — designed for clicks, taps, and swipes — are not equipped for the frictionless, real-time demands of AR commerce.

As consumers expect more from their shopping experiences, businesses and payment providers will need to rise to the challenge, developing innovative solutions that offer speed, security, and convenience — all while staying invisible to the user.

See also: Are Digital Wallets the Answer to Mixed Reality Payments Infrastructure?

Unlike smartphones, which require users to divert their attention away from their surroundings, AR glasses promise to integrate digital information directly into the user’s field of vision. This hands-free interaction has profound implications for how we access and process information, making AR glasses a more immersive and human-centric platform for computing by turning everyday interactions into immersive digital experiences.

For consumers, this means personalized offers, on-the-go shopping, and virtual try-ons — all at the blink of an eye. But for payment providers, it means the future is about to get a whole lot more complicated.

The PYMNTS Intelligence study, “The Online Features Driving Consumers to Shop With Brands, Retailers or Marketplaces,” revealed that consumers expect interactive, customized commerce experience, with 40% considering how easy to navigate a merchant’s online store is when choosing where to make purchases.

As AR glasses become more integrated into everyday commerce, they will necessitate the development of innovative payment solutions that can meet the demands of this new medium. Traditional payment methods, such as swiping a card or even tapping a phone, may feel cumbersome in an AR-driven environment where immediacy and convenience are paramount.

Speaking about the electric vehicle landscape but with implications for any future transactional environment, Julius Alexander III, the head of emerging payments at Discover® Global Network, told PYMNTS  that, when it comes to the role of payments in driving innovation, “the payment process is extremely important, and it can help the industry achieve high levels of innovation while providing payment methods familiar to consumers in their daily lives.”

Read more: Buying Into the Biometric Payment Opportunity in Mixed Reality

The history of human-computer interaction has been defined by a series of breakthroughs that have fundamentally altered how we engage with technology. From the introduction of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to the rise of smartphones, each wave of innovation has brought computing closer to the user, enhancing accessibility and ease of use.

AR glasses may potentially represent the next step in this evolution, offering a more natural and intuitive way to interface with digital content.

In an AR-enabled world, consumers will expect payments to be as seamless as the shopping experience itself. The integration of biometric authentication, voice commands, and gesture-based payments could become essential for delivering the kind of frictionless transactions AR glasses promise to facilitate. Biometric authentication — whether through facial recognition, iris scanning, or even voice identification — could become the standard for securing payments, eliminating the need for physical cards or even mobile phones.

Voice-activated payments could play a crucial role as well. With natural language processing capabilities advancing rapidly, users may simply confirm purchases through voice commands, without ever needing to manually input payment information. AR glasses could integrate these features directly into the user interface, allowing for real-time price comparisons, payment confirmations, and even loyalty point redemptions — all with minimal disruption to the shopping experience.

Additionally, AR glasses could make use of embedded financial tools, such as virtual wallets, that allow users to link multiple payment methods and manage their transactions seamlessly. This could be particularly advantageous in cross-border e-commerce or multi-channel shopping experiences, where users navigate between different currencies or payment systems.

Still, for AR devices to become ubiquitous, manufacturers like Meta will need to overcome many existing limitations to make AR glasses more affordable and user-friendly.

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