Meta has officially launched its first pair of AR smart glasses, the Ray-Ban Meta Display, along with other new smart glasses (Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 and Oakley Meta Vanguard) at its Meta Connect event. The Ray-Ban Meta Display glasses feature a full-color monocular display, projected through a geometric (reflective) waveguide on the right lens. Meta has opted for an LCoS display instead of the MicroLED light engines demonstrated on the Orion prototype a year ago.

This configuration offers several advantages:

• A geometric waveguide is much more efficient than the diffractive waveguides found on other AR smart glasses. The structure of the reflective elements closely resembles the 2D pupil expansion architecture designed by Lumus, so its efficiency can be expected to be one order of magnitude higher than what is achieved by a diffractive waveguide.
• A geometric waveguide also prevents color separation and can provide good color uniformity.
• There is only about 2% light leakage, which means no noticeable “eye glow” when using the display. Only the facets on the side of the lens are visible.
• The glasses are compatible with some prescription lenses, with an Rx range between -4.00 to +4.00 total power. However, people with prescriptions outside of this range or with astigmatism may have to wait for now.

The display provides a resolution of 600 × 600, resulting in a sharp image with 42 pixels per degree (PPD). The field of view is narrow at 20°, but this helps reduce power consumption and puts a lesser requirement on the display brightness. Meta says the display can deliver up to 5,000 nits. This is still not bright enough for outdoor usage, so the glasses also come with photochromatic transition lenses by default.

The Ray-Ban Meta Display glasses are controlled by the Meta Neural Band, a wrist-worn device that uses electromyography (EMG) to detect subtle finger movements. Meta says EMG technology can go beyond glasses and could be the best way to control any device. During the presentation, Mark Zuckerberg showed how the Neural Band could pick up his handwriting and convert it directly to text.

Meta is launching the glasses in two colors and two frame sizes (standard 69 gm and large 70 gm), while Meta Neural Band comes in three sizes. The glasses have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, two open-ear speakers and a 12MP camera. Meta promises up to six hours of mixed-use battery life and up to 30 hours of battery life with the included charging case.

Price starts at $799 and includes both the Ray-Ban Meta Display and Meta Neural Band in the box. The glasses require fitting and will initially be available from September 30 at a limited number of US retailers. Expansion to Canada, France, Italy and the UK is planned for early 2026. For comparison, the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 and Oakley Meta Vanguard start from $379 and $499, respectively.

There has been an increasing number of AR smart glasses coming to market. Notably, the INMO Air 3 glasses also feature reflective waveguides but use 1D pupil expansion with Full HD Micro-OLED displays. There are also several glasses based on monochrome green MicroLED. However, the Ray-Ban Meta Display glasses truly stand out thanks to:

• A classic design with Ray-Ban branding
• Direct integration with Meta AI
• A unique and innovative Neural Band to control the UI
• A discreet display that is unnoticeable to others
• All this for a competitive price of $799

With a first product in this category, Meta will be testing consumers’ appetite for AR glasses. At the same time, Meta is throwing a challenge to other big tech companies, which will now have to try to match the same price point.

Counterpoint Research will host the AI + XR 360 Summit on November 17 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Silicon Valley, California. This in-person event will bring together leading analysts and companies in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Smart Glasses and Augmented Reality to discuss how these disruptive technologies will create new opportunities in the consumer and enterprise markets.

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