(Bloomberg/Tommaso Ebhardt and Chiara Albanese) — The world’s biggest eyewear maker is positioning itself as a leader in the emerging category of smart glasses, a device that could become as prevalent as an iPhone.

EssilorLuxottica SA — owner of Ray-Ban, Oakley and Persol — has teamed up with Meta Platforms Inc. to manufacture and sell AI-equipped eyewear, wearable tech that Silicon Valley giants have extolled as the next consumer-tech blockbuster.

“Glasses, which have long been seen as prosthetics and later as fashion accessories, are poised to become the central device in people’s lives, possibly replacing smartphones,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Francesco Milleri said on Bloomberg’s Italian-language podcast, Quello Che i Soldi Non Dicono. “We could foresee in the near future

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