Meta VR Glasses with the compute puck that holds the processor and battery. Credit: Meta Meta will sell VR glasses that weigh about 100 grams for $1,299.99 from spring 2027. It is also turning its AI glasses into over-the-counter hearing aids. Mark Zuckerberg announced both at Meta Connect on Wednesday.
He also showed audio-only Ray-Ban glasses, a range growing to more than 100 styles, and Muse Charm, a keychain device for Meta’s personal AI agent. He framed the whole line-up around Muse rather than the metaverse. When Meta started building glasses, it expected the metaverse to come first and advanced AI later, he said. “It’s now clear that personal superintelligence will not only come first, it will be much bigger and more important,” Zuckerberg said. VR in a pair of glasses Meta VR Glasses weigh less than a fifth of a Meta Quest 3 headset, Meta says.
A puck connected by an optical tether holds the processor, battery and storage, and clips to a pocket or bag. The glasses use micro-OLED displays and Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Reality Elite chip. The puck battery lasts up to three hours of video playback. Zuckerberg said Meta has decided to focus a little less on the metaverse and build fewer VR devices.
It will release them only when it has a real breakthrough, and he called the VR Glasses one. Meta says they are the first VR device certified as IMAX Enhanced. Disney+ will stream Marvel films in 3D in select countries from November. HBO Max, Peacock and Paramount+ will offer their 3D catalogues for the first time.
Meta also promises more than 100 immersive live sports events a year, with partners including ESPN and UFC. The glasses double as a computer with several virtual screens, and any flat surface can act as a keyboard. Muse is built into the operating system, so users can talk to it instead of using menus. More than 75 games will work with hand gestures alone at launch.
Glasses as hearing aids A new feature, Hearing Enhancement, turns Meta Glasses into an FDA-cleared, over-the-counter hearing aid, Zuckerberg said. It is meant for perceived mild to moderate hearing loss. Users take a guided hearing test in the app, and the glasses tune amplification to their results. Meta gave no price, saying only that it costs a fraction of a hearing aid.
One in six American adults has some form of hearing loss, Zuckerberg said. The feature comes first to Meta Glasses. Hearing aid makers already sell AI hearing aids, such as Phonak’s EON. Audio-only glasses and 100 styles Ray-Ban Meta Audio is a new category of audio glasses with no camera.
Without cameras, they can look like any other glasses, Zuckerberg said. They are the thinnest Ray-Ban Metas yet, weigh 43 grams and have the longest battery of any Meta glasses. Meta says that means up to 12 hours, plus 48 more from the charging case. They come in two styles, Clubmaster and Burbank, with 23 colour and lens combinations.
They start at $349, are on pre-order now and ship on 13 October. Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) starts at $449, with slimmer frames, an hour more battery, six microphones and Dolby Atmos spatial audio capture. It adds the Aviator for the first time, with a limited edition for the frame’s 90th anniversary, and a new Zena frame. The Meta Glasses line, launched in June, grows to 51 style combinations.
They include the Adventurer from $249, Meta’s cheapest glasses yet, on sale from 23 October. Two new frames, Capri and Nova, join a new ivory colourway for Kylie Jenner’s edition. A LISA edition comes in two frames at $399, each with a charm inspired by one of her pets. By the end of the year, Meta will sell more than 100 styles across display, audio, Ray-Ban, Oakley and Meta glasses, Zuckerberg said.
Meta Ray-Ban Display, its glasses with a built-in screen, sold out for most of the year. They are now sold online and are expanding to the UK, Canada, France, Italy and Germany. Sales in the three EU countries start on 13 October. Muse gets computer use and retailers Muse gets computer use on the Mac and new shopping partners, Meta’s Alexander Wang said.
They include Walmart, Best Buy, Gap, Sephora, Wayfair, Expedia and Instacart. Zuckerberg said Muse is free for a large number of tokens, and Meta plans to take a small fee on transactions. Meta shares jumped 11% this week as investors bet on Muse. “We believe Muse will make you money,” Zuckerberg said. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Meta is testing human callers behind Muse.
Muse Charm, a keychain for Muse Zuckerberg closed the keynote with Muse Charm. Earlier, on stage, he had asked his Muse, Agrippa, for finish options for “Project Charm”, a device he said he was designing to carry on his keychain. At the end, he said the device was real. “We packed the whole Muse experience, including the full real-time voice and avatar stack, into something that fits on a keychain and is always available to talk to you,” Zuckerberg said. Users tap a fingerprint sensor in the corner and start talking, without picking up a phone or opening an app, he said.
For people not wearing glasses, he called it the fastest way to talk to Muse and show it what is going on around them. Meta has built only a few so far and still has to finalise the finishing material and the layout of the components. It plans to ship Muse Charm in December, in time for the holidays. It gave no price.
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