Meta Platforms has launched its first consumer-ready smart glasses with a built-in display, furthering its commitment to wearable artificial intelligence technology.
The Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, priced at $799, feature a small digital display in the right lens for notifications and tasks like responding to texts and calls via a wristband controller that translates hand gestures into commands.
The glasses will be available in stores starting September 30.
At Meta’s annual Connect conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg showcased the new glasses alongside a wristband controller, despite some technical hiccups during the demo.
“I don’t know what to tell you guys,” Zuckerberg said after a call failed to connect, Reuters reported. “I keep on messing this up.”
The crowd responded with supportive cheers.
Zuckerberg emphasized the potential of smart glasses as a gateway to advanced AI.
“Glasses are the ideal form factor for personal superintelligence, because they let you stay present in the moment while getting access to all of these AI capabilities that make you smarter, help you communicate better, improve your memory, improve your senses, and more,” he said, per Reuters.
Meta also introduced Oakley-branded Vanguard glasses aimed at athletes, priced at $499 and available starting October 21. These integrate with fitness platforms like Garmin and Strava for real-time training stats and offer nine hours of battery life.
Additionally, Meta updated its original Ray-Ban smart glasses, which lack a display but now feature an eight-hour battery life and an improved camera for $379, up from the previous $299.
Analysts see Meta’s smart glasses as a leader in the wearable tech race, with the company having sold millions of units since partnering with Ray-Ban owner EssilorLuxottica in 2023. This year, Meta invested an estimated $3.5 billion for a minority stake in the eyewear company.
However, the $799 price tag on the Display glasses may limit broad adoption.
“It’s great value for the tech you’re getting,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers, per Reuters. But he added, “Until we get there, it’s not really a device that the average consumer might know about or care to purchase.”
Forrester analyst Mike Proulx compared the Display glasses to Apple’s introduction of the smartwatch as an alternative to smartphones.
“Glasses are an everyday, non-cumbersome form factor,” he said, Reuters reported. He noted that Meta must still convince consumers that the benefits justify the cost: “There’s a lot of runway to earn market share.”
The Display glasses include a 42-pixel-per-degree display in the right lens, allowing users to view messages, Instagram Reels, and video calls. The Neural Band wristband detects gestures, such as finger taps and swipes, to navigate menus or control music. Features like live speech captioning and language translation appear directly on the lens, enhancing the Meta AI chatbot experience. A handwriting input feature, which tracks finger-drawn letters, was demonstrated but won’t be available at launch.
The Vanguard glasses, designed for action sports, feature a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera, IP67 waterproofing, and a five-mic array for clear voice commands. They can automatically capture photos and videos at key activity milestones and overlay performance stats for sharing on social media.
Meta’s smart glasses build on existing features like hands-free control, cameras, and livestreaming to Facebook and Instagram. While the Display glasses are a step toward Meta’s 2027 Orion augmented-reality glasses, analysts expect modest sales due to the high cost and limited software capabilities at launch. IDC forecasts a 39.2% increase in global shipments of augmented and virtual reality devices in 2025, reaching 14.3 million units, driven by Meta’s more affordable Ray-Ban models.
Meta’s focus on smart glasses comes amid a broader AI race, where it trails rivals like OpenAI and Google in advanced AI models. Zuckerberg has committed tens of billions to AI chips and sparked a talent war to bolster Meta’s efforts. Despite past privacy concerns with similar technologies, Meta’s glasses have not faced significant public backlash, possibly due to their integration into everyday eyewear designs.
The company accidentally leaked details of the new glasses two days before Connect, but the official reveal underscored Meta’s vision for an AI-driven, augmented-reality future.