At Meta Connect 2025, the company’s biggest event of the year, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled three new smart glasses: the second-generation Ray-Ban Meta, the Meta Ray-Ban Display and wristband controller, and the Oakley Meta Vanguard. Meta says it has sold two million of the first-generation Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. Earlier this year, Meta unveiled its latest AI-powered smart glasses with Oakley, which were designed for athletes. Silicon Valley is leaning heavily into AI wearables, and Meta seems to be one of the companies leading the charge.
With Meta looking to regain its footing in the AI race and sell more hardware, the company had a lot at stake during Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Connect 2025 keynote. Overall, Meta showcased some impressive technology. The Meta Neural Band, the wristband controller that comes with the Meta Ray-Ban Display, is a particular highlight.
In a twist that felt reminiscent of HBO’s Silicon Valley, Zuckerberg’s demo of the AI capabilities on the Ray-Ban Metas failed. While sharing a live video feed of cooking content creator Jack Mancuso at Meta HQ, Zuckerberg asked the chef to demonstrate how his Ray-Ban Meta glasses could help him whip up a Korean-inspired steak sauce.
The chipper Meta AI voice offered to help. Mancuso asked for a recipe and the AI began to list ingredients. To keep the demo succinct, Mancuso interrupted and asked, “What do I do first?” After a moment of silence that dragged a bit too long, Mancuso repeated the question. The AI responded by telling him to grate a pear to add to the sauce, incorrectly stating he had already combined the base ingredients. When Mancuso asked again, the AI gave the same incorrect response, prompting audience laughter.
Mancuso suggested the Wi-Fi might be messed up and handed the presentation back to Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg remarked on the irony of spending years on technology only to be caught by the day’s Wi-Fi. The whole interaction was awkward, especially since the issue did not seem to be with the Wi-Fi.
Meta unveiled the second generation of its Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which first debuted in 2023. This new model features double the battery life of its predecessor, now lasting up to eight hours of mixed use on one charge. The second-generation glasses also support ultra HD 3K video recording, which the company says is twice as sharp as the last model.
Meta’s smart glasses are also getting new features with this release, like conversation focus, which will be available on the Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta HSTN glasses. This feature uses the glasses’ open-ear speakers to amplify the voice of the person you’re talking to in noisy environments. Conversation focus is not yet available.
The Live AI feature, which Meta failed to properly demo on stage, is also on its way. However, it is so energy-intensive that you can only use it for about an hour or two. The company stated that as it makes battery and efficiency optimizations, Meta AI will transition from something you prompt with a wake word to an always-available assistant. The second-generation Ray-Ban Meta are priced at $379.
The Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses are the most impressive glasses that Meta has unveiled to date. They feature a built-in display for apps, alerts, and directions on the right lens. What sets this pair apart is its accompanying wristband controller, the Meta Neural Band.
Visually, the Meta Neural Band looks like a Fitbit without a screen. It is powered by surface electromyography, which can pick up on minute hand gestures and small movements. This sophisticated technology allows users to write out text messages by holding their fingers together as if gripping a pen and writing out the text in the air. This means you can see a WhatsApp message on your glasses lens and answer it by writing your response.
For now, the glasses support Meta apps, but the company will need to support a wide variety of apps in the future to achieve the adoption it is looking for. Like Apple and Google, Meta is betting that smart glasses could cut into the smartphone market share in the future, though forcing such a massive cultural shift will be a significant challenge. The Meta Ray-Ban Display, which comes with the Meta Neural Band, will cost $799 and launch on September 30.
For those who are skeptical, the Oakley Meta Vanguard smart glasses, designed for athletes, offer a coherent use case for this technology. Bikers, trail runners, and skiers can photograph their adventures without pulling out their phones. The glasses’ open-air speakers can play music during a workout and link with apps like Strava and Garmin to relay stats. Like the other new glasses, the Vanguard model is AI-enabled.
Unlike other Meta smart glasses, the Oakley Meta Vanguards have a single unified front lens with a camera in the middle, rather than two lenses with cameras on either side. This design makes technical sense and is a fashion statement suited for athletic eyewear. The new glasses can capture video in up to 3K resolution and feature a 12-megapixel camera with a 122-degree wide-angle lens. They have an IP67 dust and water resistance rating for intense workouts. The wraparound design features Oakley PRIZM Lens technology, designed to block out sun, wind, and dust.
The glasses can last for nine hours, or six hours with continuous music playback. The included charging case provides an additional 36 hours of charge and can quickly get the glasses to a 50% charge in 20 minutes. The Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses retail for $499 and go on sale on October 21.
On the VR front, Meta did not release any new Quest headsets as part of this year’s Connect. Even though the conference and company are named after the Metaverse, there were only a small number of updates to its VR offerings, such as Hyperscape, a technology that will allow developers and creators to build photorealistic spaces in virtual reality. Meta is reportedly developing an ultralight VR headset for launch by the end of 2026, which may be unveiled at the next Meta Connect event.