On Wednesday, Meta Platforms (META.O) unveiled its first consumer-ready smart glasses with a built-in display, hoping to continue the momentum of its Ray-Ban line, which was an early consumer success in the artificial intelligence era.
At Meta’s Connect event, CEO Mark Zuckerberg showcased the Meta Ray-Ban Display and a new wristband controller, earning applause despite some technical issues during the demonstration. Zuckerberg described the smart glasses as the ideal tool for humans to achieve the AI promise of “superintelligence.”
“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,” Zuckerberg said.
The new Display glasses feature a small digital display in the right lens for basic tasks like notifications. They will be priced starting at $799 and available in stores on September 30. The price includes a wristband that translates hand gestures into commands, such as responding to texts and and calls.
This launch at Meta’s annual developer conference, held at its Menlo Park, California, headquarters, is the company’s latest effort to catch up in the highly competitive AI race. While the social media giant has been at the forefront of developing smart glasses, it lags behind rivals such as OpenAI and Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) Google in rolling out advanced AI models.
Zuckerberg has initiated a talent war in Silicon Valley, aiming to poach engineers from rivals, and has pledged to spend tens of billions of dollars on cutting-edge AI chips. The new glasses debut at a time when Meta is under scrutiny for its handling of child safety on its social media platforms. In August, Reuters reported that Meta’s chatbots engaged children in provocative conversations about sex and race, and whistleblowers said this month that researchers were told not to study the harmful effects of virtual reality on children.
New Oakley Glasses for Athletes
Meta also unveiled a new pair of Oakley-branded glasses called Vanguard, priced at $499 and aimed at athletes. The device integrates with fitness platforms like Garmin and Strava to provide real-time training statistics and post-workout summaries, with a battery life of nine hours. They will be available starting October 21.
The company also updated its previous Ray-Ban line, which lacks a built-in display but now offers almost double the battery life of the previous generation and a better camera. It is priced at $379, up from the previous generation’s $299.
While analysts do not expect strong sales for the Display glasses, they believe this is a step toward the planned 2027 launch of Meta’s “Orion” glasses. Meta unveiled a prototype of Orion last year, with Zuckerberg describing it as “the time machine to the future.”
Forrester analyst Mike Proulx said the Display launch reminded him of Apple’s introduction of the Apple Watch as an alternative to the smartphone. “Glasses are an everyday, non-cumbersome form factor,” he said. He believes Meta will still need to convince consumers that the benefits justify the cost, but “there’s a lot of runway to earn market share.”
All the devices include existing features such as Meta’s AI assistant, cameras, hands-free control, and livestreaming capabilities to the company’s social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Zuckerberg’s demos of the new Display glasses did not all go as planned, with a call to the glasses failing to connect, for instance. “I don’t know what to tell you guys,” Zuckerberg said. “I keep on messing this up.” The crowd cheered in support.
Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager for IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers, noted that the Display glasses offer “great value for the tech you’re getting,” but added that the software needs to catch up. “Until we get there, it’s not really a device that the average consumer might know about or care to purchase,” Ubrani said.
IDC forecasts that worldwide shipments of augmented reality/virtual reality headsets and display-less smart glasses will increase by 39.2% in 2025 to 14.3 million units. Meta is expected to drive much of this growth, thanks to demand for the cheaper Ray-Bans it manufactures with EssilorLuxottica (ESLX.PA).
