Meta to Debut Smart Glasses at September’s ‘Connect’ Event

Meta reportedly plans to introduce its new smart glasses at next month’s “Connect” conference.

Those glasses, Meta’s first to feature a consumer-ready display, will be announced at the annual conference along with a wristband that lets users control the glasses via hand gestures, CNBC reported Friday (Aug. 22), citing sources familiar with the matter.

The glasses, codenamed “Hypernova” inside Meta, will include a small digital display in the right lens, the sources said. While this will be the company’s first pair of smart glasses with a display, Meta is keeping its sales expectations low, sources told CNBC.

The reason? The device needs more components than its voice-only predecessors and will be somewhat heavier and thicker. The Connect conference is scheduled for Sept. 17 and 18. PYMNTS has contacted Meta for comment but has not yet gotten a reply.

The report follows news from last week about the company’s plans for Hypernova, as well as Meta’s intent to price them at $800 instead of the initial target of $1,000. Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses are priced at $200 to $400, while its Oakley smart glasses sell for up to $500.

A report from Bloomberg News said the glasses would feature a screen for apps and alerts on one lens, while also mentioning the planned wrist control device.

And a report last week from CNET said that while the Hypernova smart glasses are designed to be used with a mobile phone, they hint at a future when glasses could supplant phones.

There are also rumors that Hypernova could have a smartphone-quality camera and a voice-activated artificial intelligence query tool, Frederick Stanbrell, head of wearables for EMEA at IDC, said in an interview with CNET.

“We are likely seeing the first generation of a device that Mark Zuckerberg intends to one day replace phones,” Stanbrell said.

Meta’s partner on the Ray-Ban glasses, EssilorLuxottica, said last month that the sales had jumped by more than 200% in the first six months of the year.

Meanwhile, Google is working on its own smart glasses in partnership with eyewear brands Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, with the goal of making them an ever-present artificial intelligence (AI) assistant.

“What if your AI assistant could see the world from your perspective and offer hands-free help? That’s the vision driving our latest advancements in Android XR,” Shahram Izadi, vice president and general manager of Android XR at Google, said in May.