Meta’s new smart glasses are coming this week

Meta’s adjacent large Connect league is astir here, and this year, we’re expecting to spot a batch of quality astir glasses. AI-focused hardware is each the rage, and Meta arguably already has the champion gadgets astir successful its Ray-Ban and Oakley glasses. At this year’s show, we’re expecting to spot much astir glasses, but besides immoderate standalone AI updates and adjacent immoderate speech of the metaverse.

Here’s what we’re expecting from Connect, which volition diagnostic a keynote from CEO Mark Zuckerberg that we’ll beryllium covering unrecorded connected Wednesday astatine 8PM ET / 5PM PT.

Smart glasses with a show and a wristband

Meta plans to denote caller astute glasses with a tiny show successful the close lens that tin beryllium controlled with manus gestures via a wristband, CNBC reports. The show seemingly has a constricted tract of presumption and is lone intended to amusement tiny pieces of information. The Verge reported connected the glasses, codenamed Hypernova, in 2022.

The wristband volition seemingly usage aboveground electromyography (sEMG) exertion that “reads and interprets the electrical signals from manus movements,” according to CNBC. The tech comes from CTRL-Labs, a startup Meta acquired in 2019, and Meta demoed it past twelvemonth with its augmented world Orion glasses. Meta is very optimistic astir sEMG technology; successful a caller blog post, it said that “sEMG could revolutionize however we interact with our devices” and that sEMG “may conscionable beryllium to beryllium the cleanable input for virtually immoderate device.”

The caller glasses are expected to outgo “about $800,” CNBC says, and could beryllium thicker and heavier than immoderate of Meta’s different astute glasses offerings. And a now-removed video from Meta caught by UploadVR actually showed a brace of caller glasses with a show with the branding “Meta | Ray-Ban” and “Display,” truthful it seems similar Meta is connected the cusp of really launching these.

Smart glasses without a display

Meta’s astute glasses person been a large occurrence — EssilorLuxottica, which produces the Ray-Ban Metas, said that the institution has sold 2 million pairs of the glasses — and rumors bespeak that Meta could present caller models astatine Connect.

CNBC reports that Meta plans to denote third-generation Ray-Ban Metas. The timing would marque immoderate sense. Meta launched the previous-generation Ray-Bans about 2 years ago, and this year’s Oakley Meta HSTN Limited Edition glasses person a amended 3K video solution and treble the artillery life, truthful possibly Meta volition bring immoderate of those improvements implicit to the Ray-Ban line.

The Meta video spotted by UploadVR besides showed disconnected a brace of caller wraparound “Sphaera” Oakleys with a camera connected the chemoreceptor bridge, truthful it seems similar those could amusement up astatine Connect, too.

New Quest VR headsets? We’ll see

Meta released the Quest 3 successful 2023 and the Quest 3S successful 2024, but it doesn’t look similar we should expect a caller Quest astatine Connect this year. According to UploadVR, Meta is moving connected an ultra-light headset that offloads the compute to a puck that runs the company’s Horizon OS, but the headset isn’t scheduled for merchandise until 2026. 

Meta has also started licensing Horizon OS to hardware companies similar Lenovo and Asus, and a rumor from earlier this twelvemonth indicated that Asus is processing a VR headset codenamed Tarius with oculus tracking and look tracking. Should that headset beryllium real, it could debut astatine Connect.

The institution is promising that Zuckerberg volition interaction connected the metaverse successful immoderate way, truthful we’ll person to hold and spot what that really means.

More Meta AI

Meta, similar astir tech companies, is obsessed with AI close now, truthful it seems apt the institution volition tout AI features coming to its apps and hardware. Meta precocious relaunched its companion app for its astute glasses arsenic a standalone Meta AI app that lets you browse AI-generated creations posted by different users, and Meta could further physique retired its societal features. The institution has besides continued to adhd AI tools to its astute glasses, truthful successful summation to brand-new hardware, existing hardware could get immoderate AI-focused upgrades.