That’s it, Meta Connect 2025 is finished and dusted, and it was a jam-packed under-an-hour present crammed to the brim with sensible glasses galore that we will’t wait to sink our enamel into.
The star of the present was, after all, the brand new Meta Ray-Ban Display, which lastly added a display to the Ray-Ban sensible glasses we all know and love. We additionally obtained to see new Oakley Vanguard smart glasses that look excellent for sports activities, Gen 2 Ray-Ban smart glasses that provide a handful of upgrades over what’s come earlier than, and James Cameron nearly spoiled the subsequent Quest headset earlier than Mark Zuckerberg ran away with Diplo.
If you didn’t tune in live, you’re in luck. We’ve got a round-up here for you of the 7 biggest announcements from the event so you can get up to speed in no time.
We knew it was coming, but the announcement is no less exciting. Meta’s Ray-Bans finally come with a screen, which will help you perform more everyday tasks with your spectacles, including checking messages, previewing your smart glasses’ photos, and getting around town with on-screen directions.
While not the first smart glasses with a display we’ve tried, what’s cool about Meta’s specs is that the screen is full color, which should make it more useful than the typically monochromatic display glasses we’ve tested so far (like the Rokid Glasses). They boast a strong battery life as well. Meta is promising “as much as six hours of mixed-use battery life” and “as much as 30 hours of battery life whole” if you happen to use the charging case, which is collapsible for simpler storage whilst you’re carrying the specs.
The one draw back is that the glasses are noticeably chunky, although we’ve had hands-on time with them, and in our demo, we didn’t discover them to be much less comfy than Meta’s earlier glasses.
As anticipated, you’ll additionally have to pay the next worth for Meta’s show specs. The glasses begin at $799 (different regional costs TBC), they usually’ll launch within the US on September 30, which is able to sneak up on us quick.
Meta says it’ll broaden availability to Canada, France, Italy, and the UK in “early 2026.” Learn our first take a look at the Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses here.
If you pick up the Meta Ray-Ban Display, you’ll not only get new glasses but a new smart band in the form of a Meta Neural Band.
This EMG wristband is a lot like the one we’ve used with Meta’s Orion prototype – it’s in-development AR glasses – and it lets you control your glasses using hand movements, which can even be quite subtle motions.
The band apparently relies on “deep learning algorithms based on data from nearly 200,000 consenting research participants”, with Meta including that which means practically everybody ought to be capable to use the band out of the field.
You’ll solely want the band to manage your glasses, and it ought to final you the entire day with an 18-hour battery life and cheap IPX7 water score – it’ll survive heavy rain, simply don’t neglect to take it off earlier than you swim.
3. Gen 2 Ray-Bans are coming too
Meta didn’t just give us new Ray-Ban specs with a display; it also launched Gen 2 versions of its Ray-Ban glasses, which it calls “the world’s best-selling AI glasses” (based on sales data as of July 2025).
In terms of design, they’re basically identical to Meta’s existing Ray-Ban smart glasses, but with up to two times as much battery life (now up to eight hours) and higher resolution 3K Ultra HD video capture, they should be a more useful AI accessory.
The Gen 1 specs are sticking around for now, too, though they’re sticking at their original price as the Gen 2 glasses start at a higher cost of $379 / £379 / AU$599. We’re waiting on regional pricing for non-standard lenses, but in the US, polarized lenses will set you back $409, while Transitions lenses are $459 – with this being the most expensive option and the one we think most people would find useful based on our experience with the Gen 1 Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
4. Oakley Vanguard will up your sporting game
Not to be outdone, Meta’s other EssilorLuxotica collab brand, Oakley, gave us a brand new pair of smart glasses in the form of Vanguard, which follows on from the HSTN smart glasses the duo launched earlier this yr.
These athletic shades tackle a extra visor-like wrap-around design, shifting the digicam from the temple (the place it’s on Meta’s different specs) to the glasses’ heart – sitting on the nostril bridge.
They depend on Oakley’s PRIZM lenses, that are designed to spice up the distinction of your imaginative and prescient so you possibly can extra simply spot modifications within the terrain you are operating or biking on. This could provide help to be higher ready. You’ll additionally discover they arrive outfitted with a couple of technological upgrades over the HSTN specs to focus extra on being your excellent sporting companion than a trendy accent.
Firstly, they boast Meta’s “strongest audio system” on its AI glasses but. They’re 6dB louder than the HSTN glasses, which ought to make it simpler to listen to what your glasses are saying over the sound of 30mph wind blowing previous you as you cycle.
Secondly, you need to use the Meta AI app to pair your glasses with appropriate Garmin tech and Strava. Utilizing these integrations, you possibly can say one thing like “Hey Meta, what’s my coronary heart fee?” or “Hey Meta, how am I doing?” to get real-time insights into your health to know if you happen to’re pushing your self too onerous or on tempo to report a PB.
Meta has additionally added an auto-capture function that permits the glasses to routinely seize video while you attain distance milestones, improve your coronary heart fee, or attain a brand new elevation. We will think about this being a superb approach to doc your subsequent marathon.
5. Meta’s adding more content options to Quest
While much of the focus at Meta Connect was on the 2025 lineup of smart glasses, Mark Zuckerberg couldn’t let an entire keynote go by without addressing the Quest line of VR headsets. This time, the spotlight was on entertainment content, going beyond VR games like several Star Wars titles and the forthcoming Deadpool VR experience.
Dubbed Horizon TV, this can function the one-stop hub inside Quest headsets for locating content material, and it’s bringing a significant new service to the platform. Disney+ is arriving for simple entry to in style TV reveals and films from one of many prime streaming companies, and Horizon TV will add help for Dolby Imaginative and prescient later this yr to affix the Dolby Atmos sound it already provides to ship a extra immersive leisure expertise.
James Cameron, the world-famous movie director, came on stage to hype up the Quest’s performance as a home entertainment machine and to announce that an exclusive 3D clip of Avatar: Fire and Ash is available right now in Meta Horizon TV for a limited time.
But what we cared far more about was how close he came to spoiling Meta’s next VR headset.
Annoyingly, he didn’t let much slip at all, but his comments make us believe that while Connect 2025 was the year of smart glasses, Connect 2026 will be all-in on VR once more.
We just have 365 days until we find out.
7. Big VR updates are on the Horizon
Meta didn’t forget about VR entirely; alongside Horizon TV, it also updated its Horizon Studio and debuted Meta Horizon Engine.
Horizon Engine has reportedly been “built from scratch and optimized to help bring the metaverse to life” by delivering better graphics and a faster performance. A bold promise for developers that could bring its metaverse plans close to reality.
As for Meta Horizon Studio, this hub for creators includes a range of AI tools that will soon be leveraged by an AI agent, enabling it to stitch together a whole VR world based on just a few simple text prompts. This is one we’ll need to test out.
You might also like
Source link
