At today’s Connect Developer Conference, Meta officially unveiled the next generation of smart glasses built with Essilor Luxottica. This essentially confirmed the big leak yesterday.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed off three new base models on Connect Keynote. This includes the curious Switchero in the naming scheme for the most expensive “Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses.”
The name change hasn’t come to the rest of the lineup as the name changes unveiled more sports-focused Oakley Meta Vanguard and the new Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 glasses.
Everything we know about the new Metaray-Ban display glasses announced today.
Metaray-Ban Display Glasses – $799
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0piir1kce0
Priced at $799, Metaray-Ban display glasses include voice control, photo/video capture, capture LEDs, 5 microphones, dual-off ear speakers and a 12MP camera. It also runs the same chipset as the Ray-Ban Meta and the remaining new lineup, the Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1.
But Meta’s smart glasses add a full-color monocular display in the right eye, leveraging AI in new and interesting ways beyond the previous generation of audio chat.
According to Meta, the 600 x 600 pixel display offers a 20-degree field of view (FOV) at 42 pixels per degree (PPD). The display is clocked with a 90Hz update and the content refreshes at 30Hz. The brightness is said to range from 30 to 5,000 nits and includes UV detection, allowing you to automatically know when to raise the display.
The display is also private and allows for less than 2% of light leakage, Meta says. That means people probably won’t be able to see what you’re seeing.
Also, using the attached surface electromyogram (SEMG)-based “metaneural bands” I’m probably not sure which one you’re using. The metaleneural band is supposed to provide all-day wear with a battery life of up to 18 hours and IPX7 water rating, and does what optical sensor-based hand tracking simply can’t.
Using SEMG, the neural band detects faint electrical signals from the forearm muscles when you move your fingers or hands, allowing you to swipe left and right with your thumb to navigate music, or pinch your fingers to rotate your wrist. Meta says he is currently working on an update to enable EMG-based handwriting.
When the combination of Visual and Hand Input unlocks many new abilities, Meta can be native messaging on iOS and Android, such as allowing you to personally view and reply to messages from WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. Live video calls are also included so you can see others while you’re catching the POV stream.
It also uses a visual map of the area shown on the display within the lens to unlock the turn-by-turn walking direction. Meta says it will be available in beta across some cities, and more has been added over time.
Additionally, the display also serves as a viewfinder for glasses 12MP cameras with a 3x digital zoom, allowing you to preview shots before shooting them, capture images and videos, and review them and share them from the glasses. Photo Capture for your device defaults to 3,024 x 4,032 pixels, while video capture is 1080p at 30fps (1,440 x 1,920 pixels).
Metaray-Ban Display Glasses also boast the ability to display real-time captions and foreign language translations, essentially providing subtitles for conversations.
The glasses are set to include transition lenses by default, and are said to last up to six hours of mixed-use battery life. It is also said that the total battery life of up to 30 hours is the total thanks to the portable charging case. According to Meta, users say that in the case, the glasses can be charged to 50% in just 20 minutes.
We also support prescriptions ranging from -4.00 to +4.00, but we do not provide exact details at this time. We are still learning about Metaray-Ban display glasses and will fill you up as soon as we know.
Meta pitches display glasses and the included neural bands in two colorways: sparkling black and shiny sand. The two frame sizes are also standard and large, with neural bands arriving in three sizes.
Users will need to attach it to both glasses and wristbands, so it will initially be available for purchase in limited brick and mortar stores in the US from September 30th.
These physical retailers include Best Buy, Lenscrafters, Sunglass Hut and Ray-Ban stores. The US Select Verizon store will soon follow, Meta says.
However, while global expansion is set for Canada, France, Italy and the UK in early 2026, Meta says it will expand more purchasing options over time.
I’m currently running Meta Connect this week and reporting everything about the XR, so check it out right away.
