TL;DR
- Meta reportedly plans to launch high-end ‘Hypernova’ smart glasses with a display later this year.
- These smart glasses will be able to run built-in apps like maps, WhatsApp, and Messenger, and are expected to cost upwards of $1,000.
- ‘Ceres,’ a neural wristband bundled with the device, is said to enable gesture-based navigation.
The Ray-Ban Meta AI Glasses have been an unexpected success in a market where the likes of Apple and Samsung are pushing bulky, expensive headsets that lack portability. Building on this momentum, Meta is gearing up to release a significantly more premium pair of AR glasses, the news of which first broke in January. Now, new details have surfaced, revealing how these high-end glasses featuring a built-in display will work.
Meta’s premium smart glasses: Specs, pricing, and availability
According to Bloomberg, Meta’s premium smart glasses with screens could launch as early as the end of this year. They are codenamed “Hypernova,” and, according to the publication’s sources, can be expected to cost over $1,000, reaching the $1,300 to $1,400 territory. That’s almost how much a flagship phone costs.
The reason could be the added ability of the upcoming glasses to display apps and photos, a feature that Meta sees as an alternative to users carrying mobile devices.
The screen itself is said to be a monocular panel located in the lower-right quadrant of the right lens. It will keep the information limited to the wearer’s eyes and make it most visible when they are looking down. The company is also reportedly planning a camera upgrade that would bring the sensors on the new glasses up to par with those on the iPhone 13 from 2021.
A new carrying case, dubbed “Heres,” is also on the horizon. It will reportedly have a triangular prism shape like many glass cases already do.
How will Meta’s Hypernova smart glasses work?
Bloomberg claims they got a chance to look at a prototype of Meta’s upcoming premium smart glasses, based on which the publication shared the following details about how they would work:
- When powered on, the glasses display a boot screen with Meta, Qualcomm, and other partner logos.
- The home screen features horizontally arranged circular icons, similar to the app dock on Apple devices or Meta’s Quest headset.
- Built-in apps include camera, photos, and maps, along with notifications from Messenger and WhatsApp.
- Functionality mirrors that of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, focusing on image capture, AI access, and phone pairing for calls and music.
- The glasses run a custom Android OS but won’t have an onboard app store.
- Users can navigate via touch controls on the temple bars, swiping to scroll and tapping to select.
- Meta will introduce a neural wristband (codenamed Ceres) that allows gesture-based control, such as hand rotations to scroll and pinching to select. It will be bundled with the glasses.
As if this wasn’t enough, Meta is also reportedly already working on a successor to the Hypernova glasses, codenamed “Hypernova 2”. These are said to bring a binocular display system, which means they’ll have two screens, one for each eye.
The company is also developing new smart glasses without a display, codenamed Supernova 2. They will be similar to the Ray-Ban Meta glasses but branded by Oakley.
