5 things you need to know about the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses

Meta has officially dropped its boldest piece of wearable tech to date: Meta Ray-Ban Display, a pair of smart glasses that somehow fits a display, camera, AI assistant, speakers, mics, and wrist-based control system into something you’d actually want to wear in public.

Here’s everything you need to know about the glasses that want to replace your phone… and look good doing it.

1. They look like classic Ray-Bans

Meet the Most Advanced AI Glasses with a Display | Meta Ray-Ban Display @Connect 2025 - YouTube

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Meta teamed up with EssilorLuxottica (the makers of Ray-Ban) to nail the impossible brief: glasses that look iconic, feel premium, and somehow contain an AR-grade display inside the right lens. The result is a subtly reworked Wayfarer silhouette with a taller, bolder shape and a slight curve to reduce glare.

They’re just 69g, but inside the frames are a high-resolution display (600x600) with auto-brightness, a 12MP ultra-wide camera, and a 6-mic spatial audio array, all with <2% light leakage for privacy. Translation: you’ll look like you’re wearing stylish specs, not a wearable computer, finally letting you live out your dreams of being a superspy.

2. You control it with a neural band that reads your muscles

The included Meta Neural Band sits on your wrist and uses electromyography (EMG) to detect tiny electrical signals in your muscles even before they’re visible. That means you can scroll, pinch, swipe, and even (soon) handwrite messages in mid-air using micro-gestures.

It’s like magic, but science. The tech was trained on data from 200,000 participants, so it works out of the box for nearly anyone, and it all runs on-device, so your data stays local. Bonus: the band is made from space-grade materials (Vectra, the same as NASA’s Mars Rover airbags) and lasts 18 hours on a single charge.

3. Read messages, make video calls without your phone

These aren’t just “smart” glasses, they’re basically a hands-free, face-mounted productivity machine. Through the in-lens display, you can:

• Read & reply to WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and native phone texts
• See real-time video call previews (from WhatsApp and Messenger)
• Get visual turn-by-turn navigation (launching in select cities)
• Preview & capture photos and 1080p video with zoom and viewfinder
• Get Meta AI with visuals, for step-by-step how-tos and smarter answers
• See live captions and translations for speech in real-time
• Control music with gestures (volume = wrist twist; tracks = swipe)

It’s all about short, focused interactions, but so far, seemingly only with apps that are part of the Meta suite, like WhatsApp.

4. Powering the future

Under the hood, Meta had to redesign everything from the custom light engine in the display to the ultra-narrow steelcan batteries in the arms (a world-first for eyewear). The display packs 42 pixels per degree, more than almost any commercial AR headset ever made, yet it all fits inside a normal-looking pair of specs.

The glasses are IPX4 water-resistant, come with Transitions lenses and prescription support (-4.00 to +4.00), and charge to 50% in 20 minutes via a pocket-friendly foldable case. Battery life clocks in at 6 hours, with up to 30 hours total via the case.

Meanwhile, the Neural Band is IPX7 water-resistant, quick-charges to 9 hours in 30 minutes, and looks more like a fitness tracker than a cyborg cuff.

5. They're launching soon—but we'll have to wait

The Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses will be available in-store only at select U.S. shops starting on the 30th of September, with demos available to book; however, here in the UK, we will have to wait until next year before we get our mitts on them.

Pricing starts at $799 for the glasses and Neural Band combo. There are two sizes (standard and large), two finishes (Shiny Black or Sand), and matching bands in Charcoal Black or Sand, in three sizes.

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