Meta Pauses International Smartglasses Launch

Meta is pushing back the worldwide launch of its smartglasses amid steep U.S. demand.

“Meta Ray-Ban Display is a first-of-its-kind product with extremely limited inventory,” the company wrote on its blog Tuesday (Jan. 6). “Since launching last fall, we’ve seen an overwhelming amount of interest, and as a result, product waitlists now extend well into 2026.”

Due to this “unprecedented demand and limited inventory,” the Facebook parent says it is pausing its planned global expansion of the glasses to the U.K., France, Italy and Canada, which had initially been scheduled for the early part of this year.

“We’ll continue to focus on fulfilling orders in the U.S. while we re-evaluate our approach to international availability,” Meta added.

The Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, introduced by the company in September, have a starting price of $799, and come with a screen that can display text messages, video calls, photos and the results of queries to Meta’s AI service.

In its blog post Tuesday, the company announced some new features for the product timed to coincide with its appearance at the CES showcase in Las Vegas.

Among them is a teleprompter feature, which provides users with an “always-with-you way to deliver prepared remarks in personal and professional settings.”

The teleprompter is embedded into the display glasses, with “customizable text-based cards and simple navigation with the Meta Neural Band.” Users can copy and paste notes anywhere from their phones and have them displayed as needed.

In addition, Meta is giving owners of Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses and Meta Neural Band in its early access program the ability to send messages on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger by writing with their finger on any surface.

“You can easily jot down messages using only your finger on any surface while wearing Meta Neural Band and have those movements transcribed into digital messages on the fly, or choose from suggested responses based on your conversation,” the company said. “And all of this can be done with your hand resting comfortably at your side or on a tabletop.”

The news comes days after a report that Apple was scaling back the Vision Pro after weak sales. The Financial Times said the company had eased off spending on manufacturing and marketing for the $3,499 headset.

“For the payments ecosystem, it is a sign that ‘spatial computing’ will remain a niche channel for shopping, identity and in-app spending for now,” PYMNTS wrote.