Jason Hiner/ZDNET
The hype continues to build around the arrival of Meta's futuristic Hypernova (a.k.a. Celeste) smart glasses, which will reportedly add a small heads-up display in one eye and a neural wristband (Ceres) to control the interface. These will reportedly cost around $800 and will be announced at Meta Connect on September 17.
Some have even started calling these the next version of the current Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses. However, both Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and CTO Andrew Bosworth have been teasing that Meta is going to release multiple products in the smart glasses space this fall. And the CEO of EssilorLuxotica (maker of Ray-Bans) Francesco Milleri said in early 2025 that over 2 million units of Meta Ray-Bans had been already sold and that the company was preparing to scale up to sell 10 million units annually by the end of 2026.
Also: I've worn the Meta Ray-Bans for half a year, and these 5 features still amaze me
All of that points to an upgraded version of the $300 to $400 audio-only Meta Ray-Bans coming this fall -- and being announced alongside the future-oriented Hypernova glasses at Meta Connect.
I'm a daily user of the Meta Ray-Bans for audio calls, listening to podcasts and music, and taking photos -- and I've been using them for the past two years. I'll be at Meta Connect in-person on September 17 to see and demo everything Meta unveils. Here is the list of practical upgrades that would make Meta's AI glasses even more useful and usable.
1. Double the battery life
The Meta Ray-Bans are officially rated for four hours of battery life. However, if you turn off the always-on listening for the "Hey Meta" prompt (and long-press the right stem to activate it instead), you can increase that pretty significantly. That's true if you're using the smart glasses mostly for phone calls, listening to audio, and perhaps a few AI prompts.
However, once you start taking a bunch of photos and recording multiple videos, the battery can completely drain in as little as one to two hours. Of course, you can pop them back in the case and charge them to 50% in about 20 minutes or get a full charge in a little over an hour. Meta claims you can get eight full charges of the glasses from a fully charged case.
But what the Meta Ray-Bans need is battery life more on the level of the Meta Oakley smart glasses released in July 2025. They are rated by Meta for eight hours of battery life, and the early reports from reviewers suggest that they are lasting three to four hours under heavy video and photo use. Since we know that kind of battery life is possible in a similar product, that's the kind of longevity we should expect in the new Meta Ray-Bans.
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