At Meta Connect 2026, Meta detailed its first VR glasses, a 100-gram, tethered headset priced at $1,300 and slated to launch next spring. The device uses a magnesium alloy frame, pancake lenses, a 5K display, full-color passthrough, and runs on Qualcomm's Snapdragon Reality Elite chip housed in a separate puck that also holds battery and storage, offering up to three hours of playback. It launches with 75 games, compatibility with existing Quest titles via Touch Plus controllers, Xbox Cloud Gaming streaming, PC/Mac productivity features, and holographic avatar video calling on apps like WhatsApp and Zoom.
At its Connect event, Meta showed off the Muse Charm, a small Tamagotchi-style device that runs its Muse AI assistant with real-time voice and an animated avatar on screen. Mark Zuckerberg demonstrated tapping a fingerprint sensor on the device to begin talking to Muse, describing it as fitting the full Muse experience onto something wearable on a keychain. Meta has only built a handful of prototype units and still needs to finalize the design, but is targeting a holiday shipping window this December.
Meta announced it will let smart glasses owners opt out of having images and video captured during Meta AI interactions used to train its AI models. Previously, camera captures triggered by voice commands like asking Meta AI to identify an object were stored and sometimes reviewed by third-party contractors abroad for labeling, even though they weren't saved to users' camera rolls. The opt-out applies only to visual data; audio interactions with Meta AI can still be used for training, though users can manually delete those recordings.
Meta let Engadget test a prototype pair of VR Reality Glasses that weigh under 100 grams and connect via a wired tether to a separate 300-gram compute puck. The device uses four cameras for hand tracking and passthrough video, plus pancake lenses with built-in eye tracking, and offers optional prescription lens inserts.
Meta unveiled at Connect that its holographic avatar technology, powered by a new Muse Realtime Avatar model, is now available on its Ray-Ban Display glasses and upcoming VR headset. Users create an avatar in about five minutes via the Meta AI app by scanning their face and answering voice-prompted questions, then can use the avatar during video calls on apps like WhatsApp or Zoom.
At its Connect event, Meta announced Meta VR Glasses, a lighter headset built from magnesium alloy and powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon Reality Elite chip via a separate battery puck. The glasses feature micro-OLED lenses offering a 5K display, Dolby Vision and Atmos support, and Meta says they are the first IMAX Enhanced certified VR device. Meta also said it has partnered with Disney to bring select movies, including certain Marvel titles, to Disney+ in 3D starting in November.
Meta demonstrated a new device called Meta VR Glasses, a $1,299 folding, glasses-shaped VR visor set to launch next spring. The hardware uses eye-tracking and hand-pinch controls, displays sharp passthrough video of the surrounding room, and can run immersive 3D content such as concert footage and sports broadcasts. Unlike Meta's Orion prototype, these are VR rather than AR glasses, though they share some design traits.
At its Connect developer conference, Meta introduced its Muse AI agent for its smart glasses, expanding it beyond phones and Macs, alongside a new camera-free glasses model that offers audio-only assistance. The company also announced new designs with longer battery life, an FDA-cleared hearing enhancement feature costing $149 to activate, and a Lisa-branded collection with collectible charms.
At Meta Connect 2026, Meta announced a batch of updates for its Ray-Ban Display smart glasses, including a voice-driven photorealistic hologram avatar to represent wearers during calls, starting as an early-access feature for US WhatsApp users this fall. Meta also expanded heads-up navigation to support cycling and transit directions using landmark-based cues, added a new Explore app for browsing compatible apps, and introduced smaller updates like Dolby Atmos audio, in-glasses photo editing, and mirrored phone notifications. The glasses are also expanding to the UK, Canada, France, Italy and Germany.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced the company's next-generation Meta VR Glasses at Connect, a sunglasses-style headset paired with a wired external computing pod. The device runs Qualcomm's Snapdragon Reality Elite (XR2 Gen 3) chip, features a 5K 120Hz micro-OLED display with a 70-degree field of view, hand-tracking cameras, and launches with over 75 games plus compatibility with existing Quest titles and Touch Plus controllers.
At Meta Connect in Menlo Park, Mark Zuckerberg introduced new hardware including Meta VR Glasses, a headset five times lighter than the Meta Quest 3 that resembles goggles rather than a strapped helmet. The company also launched Ray-Ban Meta Audio, a camera-free smart glasses model, alongside a third-generation Ray-Ban Meta and plans to bring its Muse AI agent to the smart glasses platform.
Meta unveiled its first camera-free AI glasses, called Ray-Ban Meta Audio, at its Connect 2026 conference. Made with partner EssilorLuxottica, the audio-only glasses support music, calls, translation and Meta's Muse assistant, weigh 43 grams, and offer up to 12 hours of battery life (48 with the charging case) starting at $349 across 23 color and lens combinations.
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