Meta Connect 2025, held on September 17–18, marked a turning point for the tech giant. For years, Meta poured billions into the metaverse and VR headsets, betting on a future that often felt distant. However, this year’s event showcased a more practical vision: products that you can actually buy and use right now.
Mark Zuckerberg described the event as “entirely glasses-focused,” and the spotlight confirmed it. Meta made AI-powered smart glasses the star of the show. Leading the lineup was the Meta Ray-Ban Display, a pair of glasses with a simple heads-up display and a new way to interact via the Meta Neural Band, which lets you control your glasses without touching a screen.
The company also revealed the Oakley Meta Vanguard, designed for athletes and performance-driven users, and the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2), an improved version of its most successful consumer glasses so far. To support these devices, Meta announced new services, including Horizon TV for entertainment and the Horizon Engine, which will power future apps, laying the foundation for a comprehensive ecosystem of AI wearables.
The Meta Ray-Ban Display, codenamed Hypernova, is Meta’s first smart glasses with a built-in colour display. Instead of going straight to expensive, high-end AR headsets, Meta has introduced a product that sits between today’s AI glasses and the fully immersive AR glasses of the future.
The design keeps a stylish Ray-Ban look, avoiding the bulky and futuristic feel that made earlier smart glasses like Google Glass hard to adopt. By offering a simple heads-up display in a familiar Wayfarer-style frame, Meta is creating a new product category that feels practical and easy to use. This approach helps you get accustomed to in-lens displays now, setting the stage for more advanced AR glasses later.
Key features you’ll notice
The standout feature is a small high-resolution display projected onto the right lens. It displays quick information, such as messages, live captions, translations, navigation, or even a viewfinder for photos and videos. The display disappears when not in use so that it won’t block your vision.
The glasses work with the new Meta Neural Band, a water-resistant bracelet that reads signals from your forearm to detect finger movements. This means you can control your glasses with subtle gestures, pinches, swipes, taps, or even miming handwriting to send a message. You’ll also have access to Meta’s upgraded AI assistant, which can answer questions, guide you through a recipe, or identify objects using the built-in camera.
Specs and design
The display offers 42 pixels per degree, sharper than any of Meta’s consumer VR headsets. With brightness reaching 5,000 nits, the glasses stay clear even under bright sunlight. Other specs include:
- 12MP camera with 3X zoom
- Six microphones with open-ear speakers
- Six hours of mixed use, with a case that adds up to 30 hours
- Neural Band battery life of 18 hours, with IPX7 water resistance
The glasses are slightly heavier than the last generation, approximately 20 grams more, but retain the classic Ray-Ban style. They’ll be available in black and tan, with options for prescription and Transitions lenses through Meta’s partnership with EssilorLuxottica.
Price and availability
The Meta Ray-Ban Display comes bundled with the Meta Neural Band for $799. Sales start September 30 in the US, at stores like Best Buy, LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, and Ray-Ban. Verizon will follow soon after. Global rollout begins in early 2026, starting with Canada, France, Italy, and the UK.
The Oakley Meta Vanguard is Meta’s new pair of smart glasses designed for athletes and fitness lovers. Unlike the Ray-Ban line that targets everyday use, these glasses focus on durability, comfort, and performance.
They come in Oakley’s signature wrap-around style, built to stay secure during workouts. With an IP67 rating, the glasses are sweatproof and resistant to dust and brief water submersion. They weigh 66 grams, include three swappable nose pads for a snug fit, and are compatible with helmets and hats, making them practical for cycling, running, and outdoor training.
Features that stand out
The Oakley Meta Vanguard connects with top fitness platforms to give you live stats during your workout. You can pair the glasses with Garmin watches and bike computers to see speed, heart rate, and distance through Meta AI. They also work with Strava for workout tracking.
A new highlight is automatic video capture. The glasses can record short clips whenever you hit a milestone, such as reaching a set distance, achieving a new speed, or climbing higher. These clips are combined with data overlays to create a workout highlight reel.
For content capture, the glasses include a 12MP wide-angle camera with a 122-degree field of view, capable of 3K stabilised video. The audio setup features open-ear speakers that are 6 decibels louder than the last Oakley model, plus a five-microphone system tuned to reduce wind noise. This makes it easier to take calls or record clear video while moving.
Price and release date
The Oakley Meta Vanguard is priced at $499. Pre-orders are already open, and shipping begins on October 21.
The Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 builds on the success of Meta’s first-generation smart glasses, which sold millions of units worldwide. Instead of a minor refresh, this new version addresses the biggest complaints about the original model: short battery life and an average camera, while retaining the familiar Ray-Ban look that made it popular.
Meta is also adjusting pricing to make its glasses more accessible. The first-generation model now starts at $299, while the new Gen 2 begins at $379. This tiered pricing creates a clear entry-level option and encourages users to upgrade over time to more advanced models like the Meta Ray-Ban Display.
What’s new in Gen 2
The most significant upgrade is longer battery life. The Gen 2 glasses now last up to 8 hours, almost twice as long as the previous version. The charging case adds another 48 hours, and fast charging gets you to 50% in just 20 minutes.
On the camera side, the glasses now feature a 12MP wide-angle lens with a 122-degree field of view, capable of capturing 3K Ultra HD video at 60 frames per second with HDR. You also get 32GB of local storage and an IPX4 water resistance rating, making the glasses more practical for daily use.
Meta is also improving the software experience. Features like Hyperlapse and Slow Motion video will roll out soon, and they’ll work on both the new model and older glasses. A new Conversation Focus feature uses AI to make voices more straightforward by reducing background noise, and it will also come to earlier versions through a software update. Live translation has expanded too, with support for German and Portuguese joining the existing list.
Price and availability
The Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 launched immediately after the keynote on September 17, starting at $379. The first markets include the US, Canada, and the UK, with Mexico, India, and Brazil getting access later this year.
The glasses come in both classic and fresh frame styles, including Wayfarer, Skyler, and Headliner, offering you more options to match your personal style.
Broader ecosystem announcements: Software and the Metaverse
Horizon TV
Meta introduced Horizon TV, a new entertainment hub built into Quest headsets. It brings together popular streaming apps like Disney+, ESPN, Hulu, Prime Video, YouTube, and Twitch. You’ll also find special 3D movies from Universal and Blumhouse that expand into your physical space with spatial effects. Horizon TV supports Dolby Atmos audio now and will soon add Dolby Vision for even better visuals. By making entertainment a core part of Quest, Meta is making the valuable headset more than just a gaming device, ensuring you spend more time within its ecosystem.
Hyperscape Capture
Quest 3 and Quest 3S owners are receiving Hyperscape Capture, an early access app that enables you to scan your surroundings and quickly transform them into an interactive digital world. In the demo, it only took about five minutes of walking around with the headset to create a complete space. This feature makes mixed reality content easier to create and share, giving you more ways to personalise your VR experience.
Horizon Engine
Meta also revealed the Meta Horizon Engine, its own game engine that replaces Unity as the backbone of its metaverse plans. The engine utilises AI prompts to facilitate the creation of VR worlds, and now supports up to 100 people in the same virtual space, five times more than before. By removing the need for a third-party engine and giving creators powerful new tools, Meta is building a stronger foundation for social spaces and content inside the metaverse. This move shows the company’s focus on long-term growth and on making VR creation accessible to more people.
Meta’s new glasses lineup follows a clear tiered strategy. Each model is built for a different type of user, from casual buyers who want style and AI features to advanced users who wish for a heads-up display. By offering choice at various price points, Meta is trying to reach both everyday consumers and early adopters of AR.
Final thoughts
Meta Connect 2025 made one thing clear: Meta sees AI glasses as the future of its hardware strategy. Instead of focusing on a single headline device, the company introduced a comprehensive product line that progresses step by step, from the entry-level Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 to the sport-focused Oakley Meta Vanguard, and then to the advanced Ray-Ban Display. This tiered approach gives you a choice depending on your needs and budget, while also helping Meta build long-term trust in its wearable technology.
The event also showed that Meta isn’t only betting on hardware. With Horizon TV, Horizon Engine, and new AI-powered features, the company is building an ecosystem that makes its devices more useful in daily life.
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