Meta Connect 2026: new Ray-Ban AI glasses, a wider Display rollout and a 100-gram VR design

01A lighter option for listening and talking

At Connect on 23 September, Meta introduced Ray-Ban Meta Audio for open-ear listening, calls and voice access to Meta AI. The 43-gram glasses promise up to 12 hours per charge. US pre-orders start at $349, with shipping on 13 October.

Audio suits hands-free listening; camera-equipped Gen 3 captures the wearer's view.

02Gen 3 keeps the camera and adds a faster AI control

Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 adds a customizable button for Meta AI, up to nine hours of battery life, a 12-megapixel camera and 3K video. Its capture LED signals recording to people nearby. Meta lists the new frames from $449 in the US, available now.

A practical example is recording a short point-of-view clip while keeping both hands free, then checking whether the result is suitable to share. Meta also says its Muse personal agent is coming to AI glasses, without naming a glasses release date in the Connect eyewear announcement.

03Display puts directions and a caller in the lens

Meta Ray-Ban Display puts information in a lens. Cycling directions and live transit departures are due later in September in the US and Canada. Meta also described walking directions based on visible landmarks. Its coming Hologram feature creates a digital likeness from a face capture in the Meta AI app for video calls. Voice drives the likeness and its inferred expression; it is not a live view of the wearer's face.

Hologram begins WhatsApp early access in the US later this fall. Calendar controls are available in English in the US, while mirrored phone notifications and the Explore app are coming soon. Display sales and online ordering began on 23 September in Canada and the UK. France, Italy and Germany are taking progressive pre-orders ahead of 13 October sales; US online ordering also began on 23 September. Meta has not announced Latvia in this expansion.

04The VR glasses are a different, later product

Meta also showed VR Glasses, a roughly 100-gram device for immersive films, games and multiple virtual work screens. Its displays and sensors sit in the frames, while a pocket-sized puck carries computing, storage and battery power over an optical tether. Meta lists a 5K micro-OLED display system, eye and hand controls, and up to three hours of high-resolution media playback. It says the product will arrive in spring 2027 at $1,299.99 in the US. This is not an update to today's everyday Ray-Ban glasses.

05What the privacy announcement covers

Alongside the hardware, Meta detailed Private Processing for AI glasses: a cloud design intended to run sensitive AI work inside confidential virtual machines and let devices verify which software they contact. Meta says this can keep data used by those workloads out of the view of its infrastructure operators. The engineering post describes an architectural foundation for future, more personal and persistent assistance; it does not say every current glasses feature has already moved to that system.