What you need to know
- Meta introduces Ray-Ban Display, the first smartglasses with a high-resolution in-lens display.
- Smartglasses feature EMG Meta Neural Band for hands-free control and 18-hour battery life.
- Launches at $799, with advanced features for navigation, messaging, and live translation capabilities.
Meta just announced its new pair of smartglasses at its annual Connect conference, which is underway. The Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses are totally changing the game for tech eyewear, letting you do pretty much anything your phone can while keeping it tucked away, from checking messages to basically navigating through life, you get to do it all with just one glance at the in-lens display.
Meta’s new smartglasses are the first to feature a high-resolution, full-color display, integrated with microphones, speakers, and a camera, all designed to work seamlessly with Meta’s AI.
As for the glasses’ design, Meta says it wanted to create something that looks both stylish and is extremely functional, making them “look and feel great.”
Weighing only 69 grams, these smartglasses look a lot like Ray-Ban’s Wayfarer with a distinct square outline, with slightly rounded edges, making them look more aesthetic.
At the front, the lens gets a slight curve, which is said to help reduce glare from screens and other sources of light. As for the over-extension hinges, they are made using titanium, ensuring both durability against wear and tear and a lightweight design.
The smartglasses are powered by a first-of-their-kind ultra-narrow steelcan batteries that are smoothly tucked away in the glasses’ thin temple arms, giving them extended battery life.
The magic of ‘Display’
This isn’t about strapping a phone to your face. It’s about helping you quickly accomplish some of your everyday tasks without breaking your flow.
Meta
These Ray-Ban glasses feature a tiny, high-resolution monocular display that’s been integrated into the frame. The display’s custom-built light engine provides sharp, bright visuals with 42 pixels per degree of view—a density not found in any other similar consumer device.
According to Meta, these lenses are photochromatic, meaning they adjust automatically based on the light you’re in. For privacy, the in-lens display has minimal light leakage (just 2%), and a capture LED that lets people know when the camera is recording, so that they aren’t caught off guard.
That said, you wouldn’t want to be bumping into things or people while looking at texts or the map, so Meta has placed the display off to the side so it won’t block your view. “This isn’t about strapping a phone to your face. It’s about helping you quickly accomplish some of your everyday tasks without breaking your flow,” the press release added.
What’s exciting is that these glasses come with an EMG Meta Neural Band, with an 18-hour battery life and an IPX7 water rating. It is made to detect muscle movements and hand gestures made by the user. This basically replaces the need for you to reach for your glasses, and lets you control it with a sensor on your wrist, so users can “scroll, click, and, in the near future, even write out messages using subtle finger movements,” the blog adds.
Meta’s AI is basically what makes these glasses so unique. According to the company, users will be leveraging its multimodality, meaning it can show you answers and step-by-step how-tos, like having a conversation with someone. Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses can help with messages and video calling, from WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. It lets you control your camera shots better with the ability to zoom and preview them before you click.
These smartglasses are said to provide “phone-free” turn-by-turn navigation with walking directions, along with Live translation and captions during conversations. According to AC’s Senior Editor Michael Hicks, it cuts out the noise of other people’s conversations, so you only get captions for the folks you’re actually looking at.
Image 1 of 3
Starting at $799, Meta Ray-Ban Display (glasses and Meta Neural Band included) launches on Sept. 30 at limited US retailers (Best Buy, LensCrafters, Ray-Ban Stores, Verizon), with expansion to Canada, France, Italy, and the UK in early 2026. They are available in Black and Sand colorways and two frame sizes: standard and large.
