Meta's Next-Gen Smart Glasses: Hypernova and Ray-Ban Display Leaked Ahead of Connect 2025

New Meta Ray-Bans leak with 2 major upgrades - now I'm even more excited for Connect

A new Oakley model based on the brand's Sphaera design was also leaked. Did Meta just foil its biggest hardware announcement of 2025? Some would say yes, but it's not all doom and gloom in Menlo Park. Meta Connect this week is expected to be a pivotal moment for the AI wearables industry, as the makers of the popular Ray-Ban smart glasses take the stage to unveil a succeeding model -- and maybe more. Unfortunately for the tech giant, Wednesday's biggest surprises may have just leaked to the public. A now unlisted YouTube video, first discovered by UploadVR, showcased an unreleased pair of "Ray-Ban Display" glasses and another based on Oakley's Sphaera design. Also: What to expect from Meta Connect 2025 this week: Ray-Ban smart glasses, Hypernova, more The wearables look as good as we expected, and fall in line with past reports of Meta pushing for a more advanced, wrist-band-controlled pair of smart glasses. If the execution of the Ray-Ban Display is as good as the trailer makes it out to be, there's more reason to be excited for Wednesday's keynote than not to be. The current generation of Meta Ray-Bans has become one of the most transformative consumer products of the past two years. Content creators are building careers around the face-worn cameras, everyday users are using vision insurance to buy them, and even tech journalists (myself included) are reaching for these glasses over $1,000 cameras to capture video. But the now two-year-old smart glasses are also showing their age, with recording capabilities, battery life, and their feature set being outmatched by new competitors in Rokid, Google, and, soon, possibly Samsung. Here's how Meta is leveling things up in 2025. Also: 5 Meta Ray-Ban upgrades that have me truly hyped for September 17 First, the new Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses will feature a monocular HUD that projects navigation pathways, translations, messages, and exchanges with the Meta AI assistant. Based on the leaked video, the display is a static projection, meaning it won't magically anchor onto what's in front of you like an augmented reality headset would. This isn't a bad thing, as there's less need for components like accelerometers, gyroscopes, or even LiDAR depth sensors, which would otherwise add to the bulkiness of the glasses. The more similar these are to traditional eyewear, the better. Meta is also pitching its new Ray-Bans with a long-rumored EMG (electromyography) wristband. The company demoed the wearable technology during last year's Connect event, alongside its Orion prototype, and my CNET colleague, Scott Stein, said it worked surprisingly well. Stein even believes that it won't be the HUD display or redesigned frames that steal the show this year, but the EMG wristband, which allows users to navigate, type, and interact with the glasses' visual interface with taps, pinches, and swipes. Also: Meta wears Prada? Why its next-gen AR glasses might out-style the Ray-Bans That's promising to hear, considering I'd rather make finger gestures while walking around or sitting down than shout at an invisible voice assistant or wave my arms around in public, as I did with the Apple Vision Pro and Quest 3. The questions I have now are: How long will the wristband last, and what else can it do beyond detecting hand gestures? And are consumers even ready to charge yet another device -- on top of their phones, tablets, laptops, smartwatches, earbuds, and everything else? These questions -- and plenty more -- are exactly why I'll be tuning into Meta Connect this week. If Mark Zuckerberg truly believes the future of consumer tech lies in the frames in front of our eyes, he'll need more than a flashy demo. He'll need to convince consumers it's worth the space in their lives, and convince developers it's worth betting their future on.

Meta's Smart Glasses With Display Leaked Ahead of Connect Event

Meta's previously announced Oakley HSTN AI Glasses (Credit: Andrew Gebhart) Don't miss out on our latest stories. Add PCMag as a preferred source on Google. Meta's long-rumored smart glasses with a heads-up display have been leaked before of a potential reveal at a Connect event this week. The leaked material appears to be a promotional video shot by the company itself. UploadVR, which reported the video first, says that it was briefly available on Meta's YouTube channel. The glasses, reportedly developed under the codename Hypernova, will launch under the Ray-Ban brand. In line with existing rumors, the leaked promo suggests that the display would appear in the right lens of the glasses. It will let you interact with Meta AI, navigate maps, and translate signs, but won't be visible to a person standing in front of you. You'll also be able to control the wearable using a wristband. This could be the electromyography (EMG) accessory Meta teased in 2022. The tech translates your finger and hand movements to actions on a digital screen. In the leaked promo, a person wearing the wristband moved their finger across a surface to type out and send a message. The extended version of the same promo shows a new offering from the Meta-Oakley partnership as well. Those glasses are designed around Oakley's Sphaera lineup and feature a camera at the center of the frame. These don't appear to have a built-in display and could be intended for high-performance athletes. Last month, Bloomberg reported that the display-equipped wearable could start at $800. We should have a clearer picture of that and other leaked products on Wednesday, when Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to deliver the Connect keynote.

Meta to debut costlier smart glasses with display at annual Connect event

Sept 16 (Reuters) - Meta (META.O), opens new tab is expected to double down on AI-powered augmented reality products with new smart glasses at its annual Connect event on Wednesday, even as the company faces scrutiny over its handling of child safety on its social media platforms. At its Menlo Park, California-based headquarters, CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to unveil Meta's first consumer-ready smart glasses with a built-in display, a device that analysts predicted will retail for about $800. Internally codenamed "Hypernova," the glasses are expected to be launched as "Celeste," analysts said, and will feature a small digital display in the right lens for basic functions such as notifications. The new glasses are the latest in Meta's effort to stay relevant in the AI race, where it is lagging rivals such as OpenAI and Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Google, but analysts said the device's hefty price tag could deter buyers. The product will likely be much less advanced than the "Orion" prototype glasses that Meta showcased at last year's event, a device that Zuckerberg called "the time machine to the future." The company did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on the new glasses. Meta, which expects to launch Orion in 2027, currently offers two lines of glasses - in collaboration with Ray Ban and Oakley - that incorporate artificial intelligence features, cameras, hands-free control and livestreaming to Meta's social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram. Zuckerberg, who has poured more than $60 billion since 2020 into Meta's augmented reality unit, has said that smart glasses will be the company's main conduit to integrate superintelligence - a hypothetical concept where AI surpasses human intelligence in every possible way - into everyday human lives. In the effort to catch up in AI, Zuckerberg has sparked a billion-dollar talent war, aggressively poaching researchers from rivals, while whistleblowers have said Meta was putting profit over user safety. Reuters reported last month that Meta's AI policies allowed its chatbots to engage children in provocative conversations about sex and race, and whistleblowers said earlier this month Meta's researchers were told not to investigate harms to children using its virtual reality technology so that the company could claim ignorance of the problem. Meta told Reuters previously that it has removed portions in its policies that stated it was permissible for chatbots to engage in romantic roleplay with children. BIG TICKET PRICE MAY DETER BUYERS At the two-day Connect conference, the company is also expected to launch its first wristband that allows users to control the new glasses with hand gestures. It is also expected to show an updated Ray-Ban line that comes with better cameras and battery life and supports new AI features, analysts said. Meta is the rare Big Tech company to gain consumer traction in smart glasses, selling about two million pairs of the Ray-Ban line it makes with EssilorLuxottica (ESLX.PA), opens new tab since 2023, in a market where rival bets such as Google Glasses have stumbled. But the unit has posted billions in losses. CNBC has reported the Hypernova glasses could feature Prada (1913.F), opens new tab branding, as the Italian label is known for thick frames and arms that could house many of the necessary components. Prada did not respond immediately to an emailed request for comment. Still, analysts said the expected $800 sticker price for the glasses - much higher than the $299 starting price for the Ray-Ban line and $399 for the sportier Oakley glasses - will mean that the device will have a negligible share of the market. "These glasses will be somewhat bulky ... not the most consumer-friendly design. It is also going to be pretty expensive. So the volumes are going to be fairly low," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for International Data Corp's worldwide mobile device tracker. He estimated the device would sell "a few hundred thousand units at most" but could help get more developers on board to build apps for it. "This is a step to eventually build a much-better mass-market headset." As part of efforts to attract developers, Meta is also expected to open its smart glasses to third-party developers with a new software kit. Reporting by Aditya Soni and Echo Wang; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Sonali Paul Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Artificial Intelligence * Medtech Echo Wang Thomson Reuters Echo Wang is a correspondent at Reuters covering U.S. equity capital markets, and the intersection of Chinese business in the U.S, breaking news from U.S. crackdown on TikTok and Grindr, to restrictions Chinese companies face in listing in New York. She was the Reuters' Reporter of the Year in 2020.

What to expect from Meta Connect 2025 this week: Ray-Ban smart glasses, Hypernova, more

Livestreams on Facebook, Meta's website, and the Quest Horizon platform will be open for public viewing. Meta Connect 2025 will take place on Sept. 17 and 18. The company is expected to showcase several new products and use the event to sharpen its XR strategy toward AI-driven hardware that can be worn and used today. Last year's Connect 2024 conference brought some notable improvements to its Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, including multimodal video support, live translations, and natural language processing. Also: 5 Meta Ray-Ban upgrades that have me truly hyped for September 17 Meta also previewed advances in Llama 3, showing how its AI research was driving new features. Connect 2024 showed how consumers could continue to embrace AI wearables, setting the stage for Meta to make a bigger leap into display-driven smart glasses and a full developer platform to support them. Here's what's on the docket for 2025, and how to tune in. A device that is set to steal the show is the heavily rumored Hypernova smart glasses, which could ship under the retail name Meta Celeste. The glasses are expected to include a waveguide display built into the lens and a heads-up interface ideal for navigation, notification triage, and supported apps. Having experienced Google's Project Astra smartglasses display with a similar waveguide technology powered by Raxium's MicroLED technology, I'm excited to see how Meta's solution stacks up. Also: Meta wears Prada? Why its next-gen AR glasses might out-style the Ray-Bans A neural wristband, codenamed Ceres, is expected as a control accessory for the glasses. The wristband is said to read tiny electrical signals from the wrist muscles and convert them into commands for the glasses. I tested the Mudra Link wristband controller at CES earlier this year, which offers a similar level of control, and was surprised at the flexibility and precise nature of control. I'm particularly interested in how Meta plans to integrate the two technologies together. The Meta Ray-Ban frames also have the potential for a design refresh with a third-generation release. This time around, the update is expected to offer improved battery life and camera quality. In particular, I'm really hoping for a way to record landscape video with the onboard camera system instead of being locked into vertical orientation as we've seen so far. The glasses are also rumored to offer two separate versions, one for sunglasses and the other for optical glasses with an everyday wear use case. Also: Samsung 'Galaxy Glasses' powered by Android XR are reportedly on track to be unveiled this month Another possible update is reportedly known internally as "super sensing" which would allow the glasses to continuously scan and contextualize the environment surrounding the wearer. This, coupled with any sort of memory, could be incredibly powerful in reminding users of things they might have misplaced or even faces and names they may have forgotten. Perhaps the most important announcement isn't the hardware but the software. The schedule for the event has multiple references to a software development kit that will likely open its platform to third-party developers for the first time. The open SDK could give developers what they need to build apps for navigation, fitness, translation, and enterprise use cases. Opening the hardware up like this could make Meta's smartglasses even more appealing to users, and I'm excited to see what developers come up with when they get the chance. Virtual reality is expected to take a bit of a back seat at Connect 2025, with no new Quest hardware to be announced this year. However, there are rumors that point to a possible debut of the ASUS ROG Tarius headset, the first third-party device to run Horizon OS after it was opened up to development by other OEMs. The ROG Tarius is rumored to be a premium offering with eye and face tracking, along with upgraded QD-LCD or µOLED displays on board. Also: Stanford's holographic AI glasses are coming for your clunky VR headset At the same time, Horizon Worlds is set to receive some impressive updates, including generative AI tools for creators who want to design unique environments using simple text prompts. Llama models will work to integrate interactive characters into those spaces with custom personalities and natural conversation capabilities. A lowering of the technical requirements for such creation could bring fresh creativity to the platform. Meta AI will likely be a major theme throughout Connect 2025, as a consumer product and as the foundation for Meta's longer-term vision. Rumors point to an upcoming wave of character-driven bots tailored to non-English speakers to expand on the reach of Meta's chatbots. It's also possible that Zuckerberg will shed more light on the company's "superintelligence" commitment and how its current efforts tie into the long-term vision. Zuckerberg could also address Meta's slipping timeline for its Llama roadmap and its shift away from its past open-source commitments. The main keynote with Mark Zuckerberg begins Wednesday, September 17, at 5:00 p.m. Pacific time, 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. The developer keynote follows on Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m. Pacific, 1:00 p.m. Eastern. While developers, media, and industry analysts have been invited to attend the event in person, Meta's official Connect website and Facebook Live will offer streams for public viewing. Quest users can also experience it in virtual reality inside Horizon Worlds. ZDNET will be reporting live from the event, so stay tuned for updates.

Meta Connect 2025 event live updates -- 'Hypernova' smart glasses, Ray-Ban Meta 3 and all the latest rumors

Meta Connect 2025 is officially set for Wednesday, September 17 at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET / 1 a.m. BST, and it's already looking to give us a look at Meta's plans for the future of smart glasses. Kicking off with a keynote from CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's annual showcase will put a spotlight on AI glasses this time around, meaning we may finally see its long-rumored Meta "Hypernova" smart glasses, next-gen Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 specs and even an all-new VR headset -- even if it isn't the anticipated Meta Quest 4. In fact, as per the Meta Connect 2025 schedule, it's now guaranteed that we'll see major product announcements at the show. Along with its "latest line of new products and updates," Zuckerberg will be sharing the "latest on AI glasses" and "Meta's vision for artificial intelligence and the metaverse." Moreover, a now-removed YouTube video from Meta showed the Meta Ray-Ban Display smartglasses, giving us good reason to believe this will be on show. It even showed off the wristband and what appears to be a heads-up display. Plus, with a developer keynote on Thursday, September 18 at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. BST, expect plenty of announcements about the "future of glasses with contextual AI" and the "future of computing." So, be prepared for a jam-packed event, and we'll be on the ground to get a hands-on look at everything announced! For all the latest updates in the lead-up to Meta Connect 2025, how to watch the big keynote and last-minute rumors, I'll be delving into it all right here. Meta Connect 2025 will take place from Wednesday, September 17, to Thursday, September 18, with keynotes and developer sessions throughout the showcase. However, for the biggest announcements from Mark Zuckerberg, you'll want to watch the Connect Keynote on Day 1 at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET / 1 a.m. BST. To tune into the Connect Keynote, you can catch the livestream on Facebook or through Meta Horizon on Quest headsets. As with last year's event, the livestream should be available via Meta Developers YouTube channel. Of course, you can follow all the build-up and announcements as they happen right here in our live blog, so stay tuned!

Meta Connect 2025: Smarter glasses and maybe a smart watch

"This will be the year when we understand the trajectory for AI glasses," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on an earnings call. Meta is setting the stage for its annual technology showcase at its so-called Meta Connect 2025 event, which will kick off on Wednesday at 5 p.m. local time (2 a.m. CET). While the Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp parent company, which also makes smart glasses, has not given away too many details of what we can expect at the unveiling, the company's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has been teasing some possible announcements. Here are some things we might see. Better Meta smart glasses It is widely believed that Meta will launch its third generation of smart glasses. "Our Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses are a real hit, and this will be the year when we understand the trajectory for AI glasses as a category," Zuckerberg said on a call with investors in January. "Many breakout products in the history of consumer electronics have sold 5-10 million units in their third generation. This will be a defining year that determines if we're on a path towards many hundreds of millions and eventually billions of AI glasses - and glasses being the next computing platform like we've been talking about for some time - or if this is just going to be a longer grind," he added. Meta launched its first pair of smart glasses in 2021 with Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica.It has since also teamed up with Oakley. The current Ray-Ban Meta Glasses and Oakley Meta AI Glasses can access Meta AI for vocal queries, live translation and can make calls or texts when connected to a smartphone. If Zuckerberg is good on his word, we could see more use of Meta AI. The Information reported that Meta may show off a Live AI upgrade, which would mean the glasses could use AI to "see what its user does and respond in real-time, for hours". Meanwhile, the upgraded Ray-Ban/Meta smart glasses have been code-named Aperol and Bellini, according to a group calling itself the XR Research Institute. Celeste Details on another pair of Meta smart glasses, which has been rumoured to be called Celeste, may also be shared on Wednesday. Celeste, if it keeps its code name, is supposed to look like the 2023 Ray-Ban smart glasses with all the features - but have a display as well. Media reports have said the glasses probably won't be ready this year, but Zuckerberg could talk concretely about it. A smartwatch? Meta does not have a smartwatch.It has long been rumoured to be in development as well as long been rumoured to be cancelled. According to a DigiTimes report, Meta is "reviving" its smartwatch plans and developing a new wearable device, which may have a built-in camera lens. It's reported to work alongside its upcoming smart glasses. The metaverse Though Meta has shifted its focus more towards artificial intelligence (AI), it rebranded its name from Facebook after it decided to go all in on the metaverse in 2021. Meta's chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth teased some metaverse software ahead of the Meta Connect event. This might include some games or virtual reality (VR) versions of streaming services, Tech Radar predicted. But there has been no official mention of any new Meta VR headsets. Then again, Meta could surprise us.

Meta to debut costlier smart glasses with display at annual Connect event

Meta is expected to double down on AI-powered augmented reality products with new smart glasses at its annual Connect event on Wednesday, even as the company faces scrutiny over its handling of child safety on its social media platforms. At its Menlo Park, California-based headquarters, CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to unveil Meta's first consumer-ready smart glasses with a built-in display, a device that analysts predicted will retail for about US$800. Internally codenamed "Hypernova," the glasses are expected to be launched as "Celeste," analysts said, and will feature a small digital display in the right lens for basic functions such as notifications. The new glasses are the latest in Meta's effort to stay relevant in the AI race, where it is lagging rivals such as OpenAI and Alphabet's Google, but analysts said the device's hefty price tag could deter buyers. The product will likely be much less advanced than the "Orion" prototype glasses that Meta showcased at last year's event, a device that Zuckerberg called "the time machine to the future." The company did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on the new glasses. Meta, which expects to launch Orion in 2027, currently offers two lines of glasses - in collaboration with Ray Ban and Oakley - that incorporate artificial intelligence features, cameras, hands-free control and livestreaming to Meta's social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram. Zuckerberg, who has poured more than US$60 billion since 2020 into Meta's augmented reality unit, has said that smart glasses will be the company's main conduit to integrate superintelligence - a hypothetical concept where AI surpasses human intelligence in every possible way - into everyday human lives. In the effort to catch up in AI, Zuckerberg has sparked a billion-dollar talent war, aggressively poaching researchers from rivals, while whistleblowers have said Meta was putting profit over user safety. Reuters reported last month that Meta's AI policies allowed its chatbots to engage children in provocative conversations about sex and race, and whistleblowers said earlier this month Meta's researchers were told not to investigate harms to children using its virtual reality technology so that the company could claim ignorance of the problem. Meta told Reuters previously that it has removed portions in its policies that stated it was permissible for chatbots to engage in romantic roleplay with children. At the two-day Connect conference, the company is also expected to launch its first wristband that allows users to control the new glasses with hand gestures. It is also expected to show an updated Ray-Ban line that comes with better cameras and battery life and supports new AI features, analysts said. Meta is the rare Big Tech company to gain consumer traction in smart glasses, selling about two million pairs of the Ray-Ban line it makes with EssilorLuxottica since 2023, in a market where rival bets such as Google Glasses have stumbled. But the unit has posted billions in losses. CNBC has reported the Hypernova glasses could feature Prada branding, as the Italian label is known for thick frames and arms that could house many of the necessary components. Prada did not respond immediately to an emailed request for comment. Still, analysts said the expected US$800 sticker price for the glasses - much higher than the US$299 starting price for the Ray-Ban line and US$399 for the sportier Oakley glasses - will mean that the device will have a negligible share of the market. "These glasses will be somewhat bulky ... not the most consumer-friendly design. It is also going to be pretty expensive. So the volumes are going to be fairly low," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for International Data Corp's worldwide mobile device tracker. He estimated the device would sell "a few hundred thousand units at most" but could help get more developers on board to build apps for it. "This is a step to eventually build a much-better mass-market headset." As part of efforts to attract developers, Meta is also expected to open its smart glasses to third-party developers with a new software kit. ---

Meta to debut costlier smart glasses with display at annual Connect event

(Reuters) -Meta is expected to double down on AI-powered augmented reality products with new smart glasses at its annual Connect event on Wednesday, even as the company faces scrutiny over its handling of child safety on its social media platforms. At its Menlo Park, California-based headquarters, CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to unveil Meta's first consumer-ready smart glasses with a built-in display, a device that analysts predicted will retail for about $800. Internally codenamed "Hypernova," the glasses are expected to be launched as "Celeste," analysts said, and will feature a small digital display in the right lens for basic functions such as notifications. The new glasses are the latest in Meta's effort to stay relevant in the AI race, where it is lagging rivals such as OpenAI and Alphabet's Google, but analysts said the device's hefty price tag could deter buyers. The product will likely be much less advanced than the "Orion" prototype glasses that Meta showcased at last year's event, a device that Zuckerberg called "the time machine to the future." The company did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on the new glasses. Meta, which expects to launch Orion in 2027, currently offers two lines of glasses - in collaboration with Ray Ban and Oakley - that incorporate artificial intelligence features, cameras, hands-free control and livestreaming to Meta's social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram. Zuckerberg, who has poured more than $60 billion since 2020 into Meta's augmented reality unit, has said that smart glasses will be the company's main conduit to integrate superintelligence - a hypothetical concept where AI surpasses human intelligence in every possible way - into everyday human lives. In the effort to catch up in AI, Zuckerberg has sparked a billion-dollar talent war, aggressively poaching researchers from rivals, while whistleblowers have said Meta was putting profit over user safety. Reuters reported last month that Meta's AI policies allowed its chatbots to engage children in provocative conversations about sex and race, and whistleblowers said earlier this month Meta's researchers were told not to investigate harms to children using its virtual reality technology so that the company could claim ignorance of the problem. Meta told Reuters previously that it has removed portions in its policies that stated it was permissible for chatbots to engage in romantic roleplay with children. BIG TICKET PRICE MAY DETER BUYERS At the two-day Connect conference, the company is also expected to launch its first wristband that allows users to control the new glasses with hand gestures. It is also expected to show an updated Ray-Ban line that comes with better cameras and battery life and supports new AI features, analysts said. Meta is the rare Big Tech company to gain consumer traction in smart glasses, selling about two million pairs of the Ray-Ban line it makes with EssilorLuxottica since 2023, in a market where rival bets such as Google Glasses have stumbled. But the unit has posted billions in losses. CNBC has reported the Hypernova glasses could feature Prada branding, as the Italian label is known for thick frames and arms that could house many of the necessary components. Prada did not respond immediately to an emailed request for comment. Still, analysts said the expected $800 sticker price for the glasses - much higher than the $299 starting price for the Ray-Ban line and $399 for the sportier Oakley glasses - will mean that the device will have a negligible share of the market. "These glasses will be somewhat bulky ... not the most consumer-friendly design. It is also going to be pretty expensive. So the volumes are going to be fairly low," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for International Data Corp's worldwide mobile device tracker. He estimated the device would sell "a few hundred thousand units at most" but could help get more developers on board to build apps for it. "This is a step to eventually build a much-better mass-market headset." As part of efforts to attract developers, Meta is also expected to open its smart glasses to third-party developers with a new software kit. (Reporting by Aditya Soni and Echo Wang; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Sonali Paul) By Aditya Soni and Echo Wang