At the Connect developer conference today, Meta officially unveiled its next generation of smart glasses built with Essilor Luxottica, essentially confirming yesterday’s big leak, which includes the long-rumored pair with a single heads-up display.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed off three new base models during the Connect keynote, which includes a curious switcheroo on the naming scheme for its most expensive yet, the ‘Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses’.
That name change isn’t coming to the rest of the lineup, as the company additionally announced the sport-focused Oakley Meta Vanguard and new Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 glasses, which were hyped alongside the previously released Oakley Meta HSTN released back in July.
Here’s everything we know about the new Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses announced today:
Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses – $799
Priced at $799, Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses include all of the usuals: voice control, photo/video capture, capture LED, five microphones, dual off-ear speakers, and 12MP camera. It’s also running the same chipset as Ray-Ban Meta and the rest of the new lineup, the Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1.
For the first time though, Meta’s smart glasses are adding in a full-color monocular display in the right eye that leverages onboard AI in new and interesting ways beyond the audio chats of previous generations.
Meta says the 600 × 600 pixel display serves up a 20-degree field of view (FOV) at 42 pixels per degree (PPD). The display is clocked at 90Hz refresh, with content refreshing at 30Hz. Brightness is said to range from 30 – 5,000 nits, and includes UV detection to automatically know when to turn up the display.
The display is also private, allowing for less than 2% light leakage, Meta says, meaning people probably won’t be able to see what you’re looking at.
And with the included surface electromyography (sEMG)-based ‘Meta Neural Band’, they probably won’t know what app you’re using either. The Meta Neural band is supposed to provide all-day wear, with up to 18 hours of battery life and an IPX7 water rating, and do things that optical sensor-based hand tracking simply can’t—haptic feedback included.
Using sEMG, the Neural Band can detect the faint electrical signals from the muscles in your forearm as you move your fingers and hands, letting you do things like swipe left and right with your thumb to navigate music, or pinch your fingers and rotate your wrist to turn the volume. Meta says it’s also currently working on an update to allow for EMG-based handwriting.
Combining visual and hand input unlocks a host of new abilities, Meta says, like being able to privately view and reply to messages from Whatsapp, Messenger, and Instagram, as well as native messaging on iOS and Android. That includes live video calls too, so you can see the other person while they catch a stream of your POV.
It also unlocks turn-by-turn walking directions with a visual map of the area shown on the in-lens display, which Meta says will be available in beta across select cities, with more added over time.
What’s more, the display also works as a viewfinder for the glasses’ 12MP camera with 3× digital zoom, letting you preview shots before you take them, capture images and videos and review and share right from the glasses. The device’s photo capture default is 3,024 × 4,032 pixels, while videos capture is 1080p at 30fps (1,440 × 1,920 pixels).
Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses also boast the ability to display real-time captions and foreign language translation, essentially providing subtitles to any conversation.
The glasses are set to include transitions lenses by default, and are said to last up to six hours of mixed-use battery life, and up to 30 hours of battery life total thanks to the portable charging case, which is also collapsible. Meta says users can charge the glasses to 50% in just 20 minutes while in the case.
It also supports prescriptions ranging from -4.00 to +4.00, although the company hasn’t detailed precisely how at this point. We’re still learning about Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses, and we’ll fill you in as soon as we know.
Meta is pitching its display glasses and the included Neural Band in two colorways: Shiny Black and Shiny Sand. Two frame sizes will also be available, standard and large, with the Neural Band arriving in three sizes.
Since users will need to be fitted for both the glasses and wristband, they’re initially only set to be available for purchase in-person at limited brick-and-mortar retailers in the US, starting September 30th.
Those physical retailers include Best Buy, Lenscrafters, Sunglass Hut, and Ray-Ban stores. Select Verizon stores in the US will follow soon after, Meta says.
Global expansion is however set for Canada, France, Italy, and the UK for early 2026, although Meta says they’ll expand more buying options over time.
We’re currently at Meta Connect this week, and are reporting on all things XR, so make sure to check back soon.
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