Meta used its annual Connect conference this week to unveil one of its most ambitious hardware slates yet, headlined by an entirely new product category, a refreshed lineup of AI-powered eyewear, and a fresh push to embed its Muse AI agent across every device it makes. The company framed the event around a single idea: building personal AI agents for everyone, paired with a family of devices that let people reach those agents from anywhere. Below is a comprehensive breakdown of what was announced.
Meta VR Glasses: A New Product Category
The marquee announcement of Connect 2026 was Meta’s first true virtual-reality glasses. Although earlier reports had pointed to a 2027 launch, Meta confirmed the VR Glasses will arrive next spring, priced at $1,300.
Key specifications include:
- Weight and build: Roughly 100 grams, about five times lighter than the Meta Quest 3, using a magnesium-alloy frame and pancake lenses.
- Display: Full-color passthrough video, a 5K panel, and support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, making it the first IMAX Enhanced–certified VR device.
- Compute: A tethered puck houses storage, battery, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon Reality Elite chipset, offering up to three hours of continuous high-resolution playback and 45-watt fast charging.
- Gaming: 75 titles playable via hand gestures at launch, full compatibility with the Quest library through Touch Plus controllers, wireless or USB-C connections to other gaming devices, and Xbox Cloud Gaming support.
Meta is also pitching the glasses as a productivity tool. Users will be able to pair the device with a Windows PC or Mac and interact through a virtual keyboard and touchpad projected onto any flat surface, or simply use a physical mouse and keyboard. The company describes the product as delivering a personal cinema, a courtside seat, a workspace, and a gaming console, all within a pair of glasses that weighs about as much as a deck of cards.
A social layer rounds out the pitch: the glasses support holographic avatars for video calls on platforms such as WhatsApp and Zoom, with spatial audio placing a caller’s voice at their virtual position, a feature set that draws inevitable comparisons to Apple’s Vision Pro.
Ray-Ban Meta Audio: Smart Glasses Without a Camera
Meta also introduced a camera-free wearable, seemingly aimed at addressing privacy concerns tied to camera-equipped smart glasses. The Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses focus on sound and voice interaction rather than capture. Highlights include:
- An AI voice assistant, along with music, podcast, and call support
- Up to 12 hours of battery life, extended to roughly 48 hours via the charging case
- A lightweight, all-day-wear design at 43 grams, with adjustable temple tips, swappable nose pads, and overextension hinges
- Availability in Clubmaster and rectangular Burbank styles across 23 color and lens combinations, with prescription lens support
Pre-orders opened the day of the announcement, with shipping beginning October 13 at a starting price of $349.
Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 and an Expanded Styles Lineup
Camera-equipped smart glasses received a generational update as well. The third-generation Ray-Ban Meta brings a slimmer design and several hardware improvements:
- A dedicated action button for triggering Meta AI
- Nine hours of battery life, up from eight on the previous generation
- A six-microphone array that Meta claims cuts more than 90 percent of background noise
- A 12-megapixel camera with 3K video capture, soon to support Dolby Atmos spatial-audio recording
- A dynamic photo feature that captures multiple frames and lets Meta AI suggest the best shot
New frame styles include an Aviator cut and a cat-eye Zena design, joining the existing Wayfarer, with 27 lens-and-color combinations starting at $449. Limited-edition variants and celebrity collaborations with Kylie Jenner and Blackpink’s Lisa start at $399. Meta additionally expanded its own-brand Meta Glasses range, including a new Ivory colorway from the Kylie Jenner line and its most affordable Meta Glasses model to date. By the end of the year, the company expects to offer more than 100 distinct AI glasses styles across its Ray-Ban, Oakley, and Meta Glasses brands.
Meta Ray-Ban Display: Wider Availability and New Features
Meta’s display-equipped smart glasses also received updates alongside expanded availability:
- Pricing and markets: Online ordering now available in the US at $799; live in the UK and Canada at £749 and $1,149 CAD respectively; pre-orders opening in Germany, France, and Italy at €899 ahead of an October 13 launch in those countries.
- Navigation: Cycling and public-transit directions added for US and Canadian users, plus landmark-based directions replacing standard turn-by-turn walking prompts.
- Calling and capture: Personalized holographic avatars for video calls and Dolby Atmos capture with spatial surround sound.
Hearing Enhancement Comes to Meta’s Glasses Lineup
In a notable health-focused addition, Meta introduced FDA-cleared hearing enhancement software built for adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss. The feature can be configured at home, without a clinic visit or prescription, through a short tone-calibration process similar to Apple’s AirPods hearing-aid mode. Once set up, it can be toggled with the voice command “Hey Meta, start hearing enhancement.”
The rollout details are as follows:
- Launching in the US later this year
- Priced at $149.99, or included with a Meta One subscription
- Eligible for HSA and FSA reimbursement
- Arriving first on Meta Glasses, followed by the third-generation Ray-Ban Meta and Ray-Ban Meta Audio
Muse: Meta’s AI Agent Expands to Glasses and a New Charm Device
A central theme of Connect 2026 was the expansion of Muse, Meta’s personal AI agent. The company announced it is bringing Muse to its AI glasses in the coming months, letting users summon the agent by voice so it can act on whatever they’re looking at, rather than requiring a spoken description of their surroundings. A new voice mode was also introduced, allowing for extended conversations while Muse continues working in the background.
Meta significantly broadened Muse’s retail and service connectors:
- Shopping: Walmart, Best Buy, American Eagle Outfitters, DICK’S Sporting Goods, Fanatics, Gap, Michael Kors, Sephora, Ulta, and Wayfair, plus Shop Pay and PayPal for payments
- Travel and errands: Expedia (coming soon) and Instacart
- Productivity: Notion, Granola, GitHub, and Box
- Communication: A dedicated Muse email address for both task execution and direct correspondence
Separately, Zuckerberg closed the keynote by unveiling Muse Charm, a small, Tamagotchi-like wearable housing a display, speakers, microphones, and a fingerprint sensor, designed to keep the Muse voice and avatar experience accessible on a keychain. Meta said further details on the device would follow later this year.
Entertainment and Gaming Expansion
Meta also detailed a broad content push across its VR ecosystem:
- Gaming: Beat Saber’s biggest update yet, adding hand-tracking support and a new single-player mode called Flux, plus a revamped campaign with narrative elements. Also announced: the return of Supernatural under independent development, Payday: Aces High, a mixed-reality Tetris Effect, Two Point Hospital, and a VR adaptation of Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies.
- Streaming and film: Partnerships with Prime Video, YouTube, DIRECTV, AMC+, Crunchyroll, Plex, ESPN, and Tubi, with 3D content also arriving from Disney+, Peacock, HBO Max, and Paramount+.
- Live sports: Partnerships with ESPN, MLB, NBC Sports, TNT Sports, and UFC will deliver more than 100 immersive live sporting events annually.
Looking Ahead
Taken together, Connect 2026 signals Meta’s clearest attempt yet to fuse artificial intelligence, wearable hardware, and immersive entertainment into a single ecosystem. With Meta VR Glasses arriving next spring, a rapidly expanding smart-glasses catalogue, and Muse extending beyond phones and desktops into eyewear and a dedicated pocket device, the company is betting heavily that glasses, not headsets or phones, will be the primary interface for its AI ambitions in the years ahead.
Software development firms with dedicated AR/VR and AI practices, such as Cubix, are well positioned to help brands and businesses translate Meta’s new platforms, from VR Glasses to Muse-integrated smart glasses, into practical, custom-built experiences rather than novelty hardware. As Meta pushes further into spatial computing and agentic AI, the pace at which developers like these can build for the ecosystem will be just as important to its success as the hardware itself.
