Meta’s next big Connect conference is nearly here, and this year, we’re expecting to see a lot of news about glasses. AI-focused hardware is all the rage, and Meta arguably already has the best gadgets around in its Ray-Ban and Oakley glasses. At this year’s show, we’re expecting to see more about glasses, but also some standalone AI updates and even some talk of the metaverse.
Here’s what we’re expecting from Connect, which will feature a keynote from CEO Mark Zuckerberg that we’ll be covering live on Wednesday at 8PM ET / 5PM PT.
Smart glasses with a display and a wristband
Meta plans to announce new smart glasses with a small display in the right lens that can be controlled with hand gestures via a wristband, CNBC reports. The display apparently has a limited field of view and is only intended to show small pieces of information. The Verge reported on the glasses, codenamed Hypernova, in 2022.
The wristband will apparently use surface electromyography (sEMG) technology that “reads and interprets the electrical signals from hand movements,” according to CNBC. The tech comes from CTRL-Labs, a startup Meta acquired in 2019, and Meta demoed it last year with its augmented reality Orion glasses. Meta is very optimistic about sEMG technology; in a recent blog post, it said that “sEMG could revolutionize how we interact with our devices” and that sEMG “may just prove to be the perfect input for virtually any device.”
The new glasses are expected to cost “about $800,” CNBC says, and could be thicker and heavier than some of Meta’s other smart glasses offerings. And a now-removed video from Meta caught by UploadVR actually showed a pair of new glasses with a display with the branding “Meta | Ray-Ban” and “Display,” so it seems like Meta is on the cusp of actually launching these.
Smart glasses without a display
Meta’s smart glasses have been a big success — EssilorLuxottica, which produces the Ray-Ban Metas, said that the company has sold 2 million pairs of the glasses — and rumors indicate that Meta could introduce new models at Connect.
CNBC reports that Meta plans to announce third-generation Ray-Ban Metas. The timing would make some sense. Meta launched the previous-generation Ray-Bans about two years ago, and this year’s Oakley Meta HSTN Limited Edition glasses have a better 3K video resolution and double the battery life, so perhaps Meta will bring some of those improvements over to the Ray-Ban line.
The Meta video spotted by UploadVR also showed off a pair of new wraparound “Sphaera” Oakleys with a camera on the nose bridge, so it seems like those could show up at Connect, too.
New Quest VR headsets? We’ll see
Meta released the Quest 3 in 2023 and the Quest 3S in 2024, but it doesn’t seem like we should expect a new Quest at Connect this year. According to UploadVR, Meta is working on an ultra-light headset that offloads the compute to a puck that runs the company’s Horizon OS, but the headset isn’t scheduled for release until 2026.
Meta has also started licensing Horizon OS to hardware companies like Lenovo and Asus, and a rumor from earlier this year indicated that Asus is developing a VR headset codenamed Tarius with eye tracking and face tracking. Should that headset be real, it could debut at Connect.
The company is promising that Zuckerberg will touch on the metaverse in some way, so we’ll have to wait and see what that actually means.
Meta, like most tech companies, is obsessed with AI right now, so it seems likely the company will tout AI features coming to its apps and hardware. Meta recently relaunched its companion app for its smart glasses as a standalone Meta AI app that lets you browse AI-generated creations posted by other users, and Meta could further build out its social features. The company has also continued to add AI tools to its smart glasses, so in addition to brand-new hardware, existing hardware could get some AI-focused upgrades.
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