Meta Unveils Meta VR Glasses

At Connect 2026, its annual event held on September 23 at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, Meta unveiled Meta VR Glasses, a VR device shaped like a pair of glasses, and Muse Charm, a pocket-sized device built for its agent. It also announced plans to bring Muse, the personal AI agent it launched earlier this month, to its AI glasses and to add more shopping and work partners. According to the Meta newsroom announcement, Meta plans to offer more than 100 AI glasses options by the end of the year. The center of gravity of the keynote was less any single device than Muse, the agent those devices call up.

The biggest hardware announcement was Meta VR Glasses. Meta introduced the device as the most advanced it has ever built and said it weighs about 100 grams, roughly the same as a deck of cards. The design goal is to let people enjoy immersive content while staying aware of their surroundings, without straps or heavy hardware. According to reports, Zuckerberg said, "For the first time, we've built a new kind of VR device that brings the same presence, immersion, high-resolution displays and view of the world around you into a glasses form factor." The processor and battery, however, sit in a separate puck connected by a cable. According to reports, the puck uses a Qualcomm processor, and the device ships in spring 2027.

The content commitments are concrete too. According to Meta, Meta VR Glasses is the first IMAX Enhanced certified VR device, with video from Prime Video, YouTube, ESPN and others, and 3D content from Disney+ and HBO Max. Working with ESPN, MLB, UFC and others, Meta plans to stream more than 100 immersive live sports events every year. According to reports from the keynote, 75 dedicated games will be ready at launch, and the device will also support the entire existing Quest library and Xbox Cloud Gaming. It tracks hand and eye movements so it can be used without controllers, and it can turn a flat surface such as a desk into a keyboard and touchpad.

This is Meta's first new VR device since the Quest 3S in 2024. According to reports from the event, Zuckerberg said in the keynote that the company had decided to focus less on the metaverse unless it found a breakthrough, and then described this device as "this is the breakthrough." He also claimed that Meta executives had typed more than 100 words per minute on its virtual keyboard. Muse is built into the device's operating system from the start.

The agent announcements centered on Muse. Meta said that within the next few months it will bring Muse to its AI glasses, so that when you say its name, it can understand and act on the product or flier you are looking at. A voice mode that keeps working in the background while you talk and a dedicated email address for Muse are also coming. For shopping, ten retailers including Walmart, Best Buy, Sephora and Wayfair are joining, along with Shop Pay and PayPal for payments, and Expedia is coming soon for travel booking. For work, Meta added Notion, Granola, GitHub and Box.

Muse Charm was a surprise reveal at the end of the keynote. According to reports, Zuckerberg said, "We packed a lot of technology into this little device," and "if you're not wearing glasses, this is going to be by far the fastest way to talk to your Muse and show it what's going on around you." He said the company is finalizing the component layout and aims to launch in time for the December holiday season, but did not disclose a price. The Meta announcement said only that Muse Charm brings a state-of-the-art real-time voice model into a device and that more will be shared later this year.

How the business will make money also came into view for the first time. According to reports from the event, Zuckerberg explained that Meta will take a small fee from transactions Muse handles, and until then will give users a large amount of tokens for free. Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, who joined him on stage, cited a case in which Muse lowered a user's internet bill by 85 dollars, and teased a new model coming soon from Meta Superintelligence Labs. That is why Meta added so many shopping partners.

The glasses lineup grew as well. Meta said it has made its biggest expansion of AI glasses yet through its partnership with EssilorLuxottica, and put its first-ever audio glasses, Ray-Ban Meta Audio, at the front. Without a camera, these glasses pack the power of earbuds and an AI assistant, and at 43 grams they are the lightest and slimmest of Meta's AI glasses. It is like hanging small speakers on the temples instead of plugging your ears with earbuds, so you can listen to music and still hear what is around you.

The battery lasts up to 12 hours on a single charge, and the included charging case adds up to 48 hours more. Meta said the glasses capture your voice on calls more clearly than earbuds. They come in two styles, the retro-inspired Clubmaster and the rectangular Burbank, in 23 color and lens combinations, and both support prescription lenses. Shipping begins October 13.

Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3), the next generation of the flagship product, is slimmer, and its battery life rises to up to nine hours, an hour more than the previous generation. Meta says a new array of six microphones cuts more than 90% of background noise, so calls and voice commands stay clear even on windy streets. The camera takes 12 MP photos and 3K Ultra HD video, and a new dynamic photos feature lets you pick the best shot from several moments. The built-in LED light that tells people nearby you are recording remains in this generation.

Gen 3 comes in three styles, Aviator, the new cat-eye Zena and Wayfarer, in 27 color and lens combinations. A limited-edition Aviator in a vintage-inspired colorway also marks the 90th anniversary of the Ray-Ban Aviator. Meta said that later this year its AI glasses will become the first consumer devices to capture and play video in Dolby Atmos with 360-degree spatial sound. You simply record and the glasses handle the rest, so playback sounds as if you were there.

The Meta Glasses line, launched with EssilorLuxottica earlier this year, adds two new styles, Capri and Nova. The Meta Glasses by Kylie Jenner line gets a new Ivory colorway of the Starfire style, and Meta unveiled its first collaboration collection with the artist LISA. The LISA collection features a custom star on the frames and case, special edition case charms inspired by LISA's pets, and digital photocards unlocked with the glasses. It comes in two models, the Meta Adventurer LISA Edition and the cat-eye Meta Capri LISA Edition, and both support prescriptions.

The new black-framed Meta Adventurer, which Meta calls its most affordable Meta Glasses yet, goes on sale October 23 in every country where Meta Glasses are sold. The Mix & Match program, which lets you choose the frame, lenses and case color, now covers every pair of Meta Glasses. Availability is growing too: sales began on September 23 in Singapore, South Korea, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates, with Brazil coming soon. Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley Meta and others will arrive in 11 more countries later this year, including Turkey, Poland, Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong.

Hearing enhancement is FDA-cleared software that helps adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss. It can be set up at home in minutes without a clinic visit or prescription, and later this year it can be added to supported glasses in the US. Every AI glasses wearer also gets an audio balance feature that shifts sound toward the left or right ear and a mono audio option that routes everything to one side. Meta Ray-Ban Display, the glasses with a screen, gains hands-free navigation, a personalized hologram for video calls and Dolby Atmos capture, and opens online ordering while expanding to the UK, Canada, France, Italy and Germany.

The Meta newsroom announcement METAL reviewed sums up the event's goal as personal AI agents for everyone and a family of devices that let you reach those agents from anywhere. Meta describes this direction as personal superintelligence. METAL previously reported that Meta unveiled Muse Realtime Avatar just before Connect, and earlier this month covered Muse's security design. The three announcements form a single line. The agent first got a face and a voice, and now it gets a body in the form of glasses and a device in your pocket.

From a reporter's point of view, the most important line at this Connect was not a product spec but the business model. An agent that earns money from transaction fees benefits the company the more users buy and the more often they pay. Meta promised a recording indicator light, tamper protection and on-device privacy processing for its glasses, but how well those promises hold up in front of always-on cameras and microphones will be shown by usage records after launch. As glasses and pendants become an agent's eyes and ears, whose interests that agent serves first becomes the first test for judging these devices.