Meta Launches Ray-Ban Display Glasses and Neural Band, Ushering in a New Era of AI-Powered Wearables
Meta Platforms Inc. has unveiled its highly anticipated Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, featuring the company’s first built-in digital screen, alongside a neural wristband called the Meta Neural Band. This innovative smart glasses set debuted at Meta’s annual Meta Connect event on September 17, 2025, held at the company’s Menlo Park headquarters in California.
The new Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, priced at $799, incorporate a discreet screen in the right lens capable of showing text messages, video calls, turn-by-turn map directions, visual query results from Meta’s AI service, and much more. The display can also function as a camera viewfinder and music controller. These glasses embody Meta’s vision of delivering “superintelligence” via AI that serves people directly in everyday life, rather than large-scale automated systems, as emphasized by CEO Mark Zuckerberg from the event stage: “Glasses are the ideal form factor for personal super intelligence because they let you stay present at the moment while getting access to all of these AI capabilities to make you smarter, help you communicate better, improve your memory, improve your senses”.
The glasses come bundled with the Meta Neural Band, a smart electromyography (EMG) wristband that tracks muscle activity to allow seamless control of the glasses through hand gestures. Available in three sizes, the band offers 18 hours of battery life and works as an integral part of the eyewear interface, eliminating the need to pull out phones for notifications or controls. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth described this launch as “the first serious product” in the smart glasses category, marking a pivotal step toward building a comprehensive consumer electronics ecosystem to rival Apple and Google.
Designed in partnership with eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica under the Ray-Ban brand, the Display glasses balance cutting-edge technology with stylish, conventional aesthetics in two frame colorways (Shiny Black and Shiny Sand) and two frame sizes (standard and large). They include Transition lenses by default and support prescription ranges from -4.00 to +4.00, though support for higher prescriptions is yet to be fully detailed. The glasses offer up to six hours of mixed-use battery life, extended to 30 hours with their collapsible portable charging case that reaches 50% charge in just 20 minutes.
Initially, the glasses and neural band set will be sold in select U.S. retail stores, including Best Buy, LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, Ray-Ban stores, and later Verizon locations, starting September 30, 2025.
This launch follows Meta’s previous attempts in the augmented reality space with products like the experimental Orion AR eyewear, which offered complex 3D displays and eye tracking but remains out of reach for consumers due to high production costs. The Ray-Ban Display glasses are positioned as a more accessible step into wearable AI, focusing on practical, everyday uses while maintaining a stylish and discreet design.
Expert and user reception highlights the glasses’ potential to change how people interact with their digital world, making smartphones feel “positively old-fashioned.” However, some questions remain about broader prescription support and widespread adoption given the price point.
In summary, Meta’s Ray-Ban Display glasses combined with the Neural Band represent a bold move toward mainstream AR wearables, aiming to blend AI capabilities with real-world presence. With an initial U.S. retail rollout upcoming, the next steps will be critical to gauge consumer interest and the product’s influence on the evolving wearable tech landscape. Industry watchers should watch for upcoming software updates and potential integration with other Meta AI developments to fully realize the vision of “personal superintelligence”.
This pioneering launch signals Meta’s growing commitment to smart eyewear and AI-driven consumer electronics, setting the stage for more advances in augmented reality and AI interfaces in everyday life.
