Meta has not disclosed whether audio recording for the glasses is in the works. This makes them currently comparable to the functionalities of a pair of headphones or earbuds, as the in-built Meta AI assistant is comparable to the access consumers have through the smartphone they normally pair with their audio tech. The difference here is that these glasses shrink the two devices normally needed (your smartphone plus the earbuds) down to one — and that’s what Meta is betting will convince consumers they’re worth it. The new audio-only glasses will be available to buy from October 13th for $349, cheaper than the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 with cameras, which range from $379 to $459, and more than the cheapest version of Meta’s own brand AI glasses released in June, which start at $299.
The audio-only glasses were only one part of Zuckerberg’s announcements — elsewhere, Meta seems to be choosing defiance over retreat from AI smart glasses with in-built cameras, despite the cultural backlash.
An AI eyewear blitz
Zuckerberg also unveiled several new models, styles and features for its Meta AI smart glasses with in-built cameras, representing its biggest expansion of this main category of AI eyewear yet. All the new styles and shapes announced today at Meta Connect mean that by the end of the year, Meta’s AI smart glasses assortment will comprise 100 glasses options across its Ray-Ban, Oakley and Meta own brand.
Zuckerberg also unveiled a new version of Meta and EssilorLuxottica’s flagship smart glasses, the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3. The new version is slimmer, with improved battery life and audio, while significantly broadening the number of styles available, including Aviators and Zena, a new cat-eye — another indication that Meta is increasingly treating choice and design as central to taking smart glasses mainstream.
Under the hood, the changes are more incremental. Battery life rises to nine hours, versus eight hours for Gen 2, while a new six-microphone array is designed to improve calls and Meta AI voice commands in noisy environments. A customisable action button gives wearers quicker access to Meta AI, while the 12-megapixel camera can shoot 3K video. Meta says Dolby Atmos video capture will arrive later this year.
Like previous generations, Gen 3 has an external LED designed to signal to people nearby when its camera is recording. The effectiveness of these indicators has become an increasingly important issue as smart glasses become less visibly distinguishable from conventional eyewear. To address this, Meta introduced an update that closed a loophole allowing users to begin recording before covering the light. Himel tells Vogue Business that Meta has moved to disable accounts that have been found to have posted content made after tampering with this LED light.
At $449, Gen 3 also represents a step up in price, from $379 for Gen 2. Rather than radically reinventing the product, Gen 3 appears to be about refining the technology while dramatically increasing the fashion proposition: more silhouettes, more colours and a slimmer design.
A big part of people’s privacy concerns over Meta’s AI smart glasses stem from the fact that all the data that’s collected from the glasses is sent to Meta’s cloud servers. On Wednesday, Zuckerberg also announced that Meta is working on private processing for smart glasses on-device. This means that Meta won’t have access to the wearer’s data. Meta will start rolling this out soon for features like live translation first, and will progressively roll it out to more features like media in future.
