Meta has launched its first range of smart glasses sold under its own brand name, undercutting its existing products and introducing a new built-in voice and camera assistant as the company makes its most direct push yet into the wearable technology market.
The new range, simply called Meta Glasses, went on sale in partnership with EssilorLuxottica, the Italian eyewear company that also makes the Ray-Ban frames Meta has sold since 2023. Until now, Meta’s wearable glasses have always carried the Ray-Ban or Oakley name. This is the first time the company has put its own label on the front of the frames.
The starting price of $299 is $80 lower than the entry level Ray-Ban Meta glasses, a deliberate move to bring the product within reach of a broader group of buyers. Three frame styles are available across 26 combinations of size and colour. The first is a standard rectangular frame called the Meta Adventurer. The second, called the Fury, has a bolder square shape. The third has been designed in collaboration with the American television personality and entrepreneur Kylie Jenner and carries an oval frame under the name Meta Glasses by Kylie.
All three share the same core features as the existing Ray-Ban and Oakley versions. Each pair includes open speakers positioned near the ears rather than inside them, a microphone, a camera mounted on the frame, and a physical button that activates the built-in assistant. Battery life is quoted at over eight hours.
The most significant addition is a new assistant called Muse Spark, which comes pre-installed on all three new models. It is also being rolled out as an update to existing Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta glasses for users in the United States and Canada. Muse Spark can answer spoken questions, analyse what the camera is looking at and describe what it sees, and handle tasks involving scheduling and planning by running several processes at once in the background. A companion application for smartphones brings the same assistant to a phone screen, placing it in direct competition with voice and text tools from Google, OpenAI and Elon Musk’s Grok.
As reported, Meta is also adding further features to the glasses range in the weeks ahead. A new photo setting will automatically take several frames in quick succession and suggest the best one, while still giving the user the final choice. Glasses without a display will gain the ability to give spoken walking directions. The live translation feature, which converts speech from one language into another in near real time through the speakers, is being expanded from six to twenty languages, adding Japanese, Mandarin, Hindi and Korean among others.
The arrival of a cheaper, own-brand model reflects how seriously Meta is treating this category. Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s chief executive, has described smart glasses as one of the most important platforms his company is building for the years ahead, arguing that they represent a natural next step beyond the smartphone for people who want technology to be present throughout their day without having to look down at a screen.
The glasses have not been without controversy. Camera-equipped wearables were the subject of sharp criticism when Google launched its Glass product in 2013, and the same concerns have followed Meta’s versions. Incidents involving people using similar products to record others without consent have drawn repeated attention. Students have been caught using camera glasses to cheat in examinations. A witness in a London courtroom was found to have been fed instructions in real time through a pair of smart glasses during proceedings. Meta itself faced criticism after it emerged that contractors hired to review footage collected by the cameras had seen deeply personal moments captured by users going about their daily lives.
None of those controversies appear to have significantly slowed the commercial momentum of the category. Apple is said to be developing its own version of a glasses product without a screen, reportedly testing four different frame designs with a potential public showing later this year and a sale date targeted for 2027. That follows the mixed reception to Apple’s Vision Pro headset, a far larger and more expensive device that sold in small numbers and was quietly wound down earlier this year.
The competition to define what smart glasses can and should do is only beginning to take shape. Meta’s decision to sell them under its own name for the first time, at a price below what it previously charged, suggests the company believes the market is ready to grow well beyond the early adopters who bought the first Ray-Ban versions. Whether buyers agree will become clearer in the months ahead.
About the Author
Marcel Chidozie is a tech analyst and writer covering foreign news, fintech, and emerging technologies at TechRegard. Based in Nigeria, He's passionate about translating complex tech developments into compelling, accessible stories for diverse audiences. His work focuses on how technology shapes innovation across Africa and globally.
