Meta is doubling down on wearables, unveiling three new pairs of smart glasses at its annual Meta Connect showcase.
The highlight is the Meta Ray-Ban Display, the first mainstream smart glasses with a heads-up display since Google Glass.
The design keeps to classic Wayfarer styling, but inside the right lens sits a small, bright colour display that can show text, images and even live video calls.
A front-facing camera, speakers and microphones are built in, with an LED indicator to alert others when the camera is recording.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told attendees, “Glasses are the only form factor where you can let AI see what you see, hear what you hear, and eventually generate what you want to generate, such as images or video.”
The Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses
Demo glitches and Wi-Fi woes
But not everything went smoothly on stage. Zuckerberg and his team attempted four times to place a video call using the glasses, each effort collapsing under the weight of that old demo enemy: Wi-Fi. At one point, Zuckerberg’s glasses even fogged up, with the Meta boss looking more than a little frustrated by the hiccup.
Here’s the video of Zuck having technical difficulties answering a call on the new Meta Glasses
This is a rough watch. 😆
However props to Meta for doing real live demos. And the glasses over all are really cool! pic.twitter.com/rVH6Jxzh4A
— Chris (@chatgpt21) September 18, 2025
And, in the immortal words of one Khaled Mohammed Khaled, aka DJ Khaled, here’s another one:
● Meta ●
The Meta OS team 😦#Meta #MarkZuckerberg #Zucaritas https://t.co/K4HOA2jkt3 pic.twitter.com/cqByHUp5zl— Daniel (@danielosssan) September 18, 2025
The “world’s first mainstream neural interface,” as Zuckerberg described the wristband controller paired with the glasses, didn’t look especially easy to operate either – and it’s fair to say keynote nerves may have played a role.
Still, the stumble was shrugged off as the kind of glitch that plagues almost every live tech reveal.
Beyond the lens: AI and gestures
Meta is pairing the glasses with a Neural Band, a bracelet that detects electrical impulses in the forearm to interpret hand gestures.
It functions like a screenless smartwatch, enabling swipes, pinches, taps and rotations to control the interface in the glasses. Later updates will even allow handwriting with a finger.
Voice and touch controls remain key, with the glasses also tapping Meta’s AI chatbot for contextual answers, from recipe steps to landmark details, using the built-in camera. Battery life runs to six hours of mixed use, with a charging case extending it to 30 hours.
The Ray-Ban Display glasses launch in the US on 30 September, priced at USD $799, with rollout to the UK, France, Italy and Canada expected in early 2026.
Mark Zuckerberg
Oakley targets sport with Vanguard
Alongside the Ray-Bans, Meta has partnered with Oakley on the Meta Vanguard, a sport-focused model built without a display but designed for high-performance activity.
The wraparound frames pack a central camera, microphones and speakers, weighing in at 66g with swappable lenses and water resistance.
Meta has also teamed up with Garmin to integrate the glasses with its sport trackers. Runners and cyclists can ask for real-time updates on speed, heart rate or distance, while a built-in LED signals when goals are hit.
The glasses can automatically capture highlight clips – stitching video with data overlays from milestones like elevation gains or kilometre splits – which can be shared straight to Strava.
Meta’s push into wearables continues to blend lifestyle, sport and AI-driven utility. For brands and advertisers, the big question is how these partnerships with Ray-Ban, Oakley and Garmin might open new channels for engagement… provided the Wi-Fi holds up.