Meta Connect 2026: The 7 biggest announcements | The Verge
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This year’s Meta Connect featured a new lightweight VR wearable and camera-free Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
This year’s Meta Connect featured a new lightweight VR wearable and camera-free Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
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Meta announced a slate of new wearables during its annual Meta Connect showcase on Wednesday. The star of the event was the new Meta VR Glasses, which pack virtual reality tech into a lightweight smart glasses-style frame with a tethered puck. Meta also announced new pairs of screen-free smart glasses, along with some new AI features and style and frame options.
You can catch up on all the highlights from this year’s Meta Connect below.
Meta VR Glasses bring virtual reality to a lighter form factor
Meta’s latest wearable offers full virtual reality in a smart glasses-style form factor. Unlike a typical VR headset, the VR Glasses don’t have any straps, and Meta says they’re “five times lighter than Meta Quest 3” at just 100g. Similar to Google’s Project Aura, the glasses are tethered to a pocket-sized puck with the compute hardware, battery, and storage, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon Reality Elite, 128GB of storage, and 12GB of RAM. The 5K micro OLED “Infinite Display” has 2412 x 2288 pixels per eye, with a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz.
The Meta VR Glasses are launching in spring 2027 for $1,299, pricier than the Meta Ray-Ban Display but less expensive than the Apple Vision Pro, while offering similar features. Users can connect the glasses to a Mac or Windows laptop for use as a virtual external display, with an option for a virtual surface keyboard and touchpad.
The VR Glasses also have access to the full Meta Quest catalog of apps and games and support for Xbox Cloud Gaming. Meta says the glasses are “the first IMAX Enhanced certified VR device ever,” and users will be able to watch “immersive live sports” with them as well as 3D movies. They even have a “hologram” feature that creates a “photorealistic digital version of your face” for using in calls while wearing the glasses, reminiscent of the “personas” on the Apple Vision Pro.
The highlight of the Ray-Ban Meta Audio is the feature they don’t have: built-in cameras. You can use them for things like listening to music, taking calls, or chatting with an AI assistant, but they can’t take pictures or record video — features that have sparked privacy and harassment concerns around Meta’s other glasses.
Meta says the new audio-only glasses are also its “lightest, slimmest AI glasses yet,” weighing just 43g. They offer up to 12 hours of battery life per charge, or 48 hours with the charging case. The Ray-Ban Meta Audio will launch on October 13th starting at $349 with 23 different color and lens combinations.
Meta launched an updated version of its main Ray-Ban Meta glasses, starting at $449. The Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 offer up to nine hours of battery life, one hour more than the Gen 2. They also have “a new customizable action button for instant access to Meta AI” and a new six-mic array that Meta says “cuts more than 90% of background noise.”
The Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 has a slimmer design than the Gen 2 as well, with 27 color and lens combinations, including new Zena and Aviator frame styles. Notably, one thing that hasn’t changed is the built-in LED light that indicates when the glasses are recording, which Meta rolled out a privacy fix for last month.
Budget glasses launch along with new glasses styles
Alongside its pricier Ray-Ban glasses, Meta also announced some updates to its in-house line of glasses. It’s launching a new lower-cost version of the Meta Adventurer, which will start at $249 for a basic design with black frames and gray lenses, launching October 23rd.
Meta is also introducing a new “Mix & Match” program for customizing its glasses with different frames, lenses, and case colors. Plus, its Essilor Luxottica collection is getting two new styles, Capri and Nova, and the Kylie Jenner Starfire frames are getting a new ivory colorway. Meta’s also launching a new collaboration collection with Lisa of Blackpink.
Meta Glasses are expanding to more countries starting today, too, including Singapore, South Korea, Mexico, and the United Arab Emirates, with availability in Brazil “coming soon.”
Meta Ray-Ban Display is coming to more regions with some new features
A year after they originally launched, the Meta Ray-Ban Display are coming to more regions. The glasses are on sale in the UK and Canada starting today, and they’ll be available in France, Italy, and Germany starting on October 13th. Meta’s also introducing online ordering for customers in those regions and the US.
Meta’s launching a new Explore app for Display glasses where users will be able to “browse and use a growing selection of experiences built for your glasses.” The Meta Ray-Ban Display is also getting photo editing, an improved calendar, and mirrored phone notifications. Plus, Meta says the “hologram” feature launching on its VR Glasses is rolling out on the Meta Ray-Ban Display “in Early Access on Whats App to Meta Ray-Ban Display users in the US later this fall.”
Meta’s Muse AI is coming to glasses and video calls
After launching its new Muse assistant earlier this month, Meta says it’s “working on” bringing the AI to its smart glasses. When it arrives on the glasses, Muse will be able to do things like guide your workouts, log meals, book appointments, and “help buy products you see.”
Meta also announced some new features for Muse, including video calls with a customizable live avatar of the AI. Plus, Muse agents are getting their own email addresses for completing tasks and communicating with users.
Mark Zuckerberg teased one last device, Muse Charm, a small AI gadget that houses the Muse agent and looks a little bit like a supersized Tamagotchi. More details will be shared “soon,” he said, but the product is supposed to ship in time for the holiday season.
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