10 Things to Know About Meta’s Smart Glasses as New $299 Models Launch

Meta has aggressively expanded its smart glasses lineup in 2026, introducing a new, lower-priced entry point while continuing to push the boundaries of what wearable AI devices can do. Here are 10 things to know about the company’s current glasses offerings.

1. A New Entry-Level Model Just Launched at $299

Meta on Tuesday announced a new set of $299 smart glasses, at least $80 less than the price tag for the company’s entry-level second-generation Meta Ray-Ban glasses, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg continues his push into wearables. Meta AI smart glasses are on sale today starting at $299 with the new Adventurer and Fury models.

2. The New Glasses Drop the Ray-Ban Branding

The Meta Glasses come with new designs and are built in partnership with Ray-Ban parent EssilorLuxottica, but they don’t come with Ray-Ban or Oakley branding. This represents a notable shift in strategy, establishing a Meta-branded lineup that sits below the existing Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta lines on price, while the partnerships with those two eyewear brands continue, with both lines remaining on sale.

3. They Run on Meta’s First Proprietary AI Model

Every model in the new lineup ships with Muse Spark, the first release from Meta Superintelligence Labs — the group led by Alexandr Wang — and Meta’s first closed-weight AI model. The closed-weight decision marks a deliberate strategic departure, since Meta built its AI reputation on open-source Llama releases that powered hundreds of third-party products. The model operates in three modes — Instant, Thinking, and Contemplating — that trade response latency against reasoning depth.

4. Meta Dominates the Smart Glasses Market

Smart glasses without displays surged 167% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026, and Meta held 69.2% of the AI glasses market during that quarter, according to IDC’s tracker report. In a separate count, Counterpoint Research puts the combined Meta and EssilorLuxottica share above 80%, using a broader methodology — either figure representing a commanding position in a fast-growing category.

5. The Premium Display Model Costs $799

For those wanting a more advanced experience, Meta also sells the Ray-Ban Display glasses, which cost $799 and include a built-in display controlled by a companion wristband called the Meta Neural Band. The device features a 12-megapixel camera with 3x zoom and a viewfinder visible on the in-lens display, allowing users to shoot and share photos directly from the glasses.

6. The Display Model Supports Two-Way Video Calling

Among the more advanced features available on the Display model, two-way video calling lets users see the person they’re talking to on their display, while the other party sees the world through the wearer’s eyes. The feature is available on WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, and users can also watch and share Instagram reels, stories, and posts directly from the in-lens display.

7. The Display Model Requires an In-Person Demo to Purchase

Unlike the standard smart glasses, Meta has implemented a more restrictive sales process for its premium Display model given limited supply. Meta Ray-Ban Display is a first-of-its-kind product with extremely limited inventory. Completing a demo is required for purchase, but due to high demand, the product may be sold out and unavailable after your demo. Appointments can be booked several weeks in advance, with new slots opening daily.

8. Battery Life Varies Significantly by Model

Battery performance differs considerably depending on which glasses a customer chooses. The standard Ray-Ban Meta glasses offer up to 8 hours of use on a single charge, with an additional 48 hours available from the included charging case. The more feature-rich Display model, by comparison, was found in independent testing to deliver about six hours of continuous mixed use — with the display active, the AI assistant available, and music streaming — closely matching Meta’s official specification of “up to 6 hours.”

9. The Glasses Have Faced a Serious Privacy Controversy

Meta’s smart glasses have drawn significant scrutiny this year over how user footage is handled behind the scenes. In February 2026, Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten reported that workers at Sama, a Kenya-based contractor, had been reviewing video clips captured through users’ Ray-Ban Meta glasses as part of Meta’s AI training pipeline. The footage included bathroom visits, nudity, and sexual activity — captured by users who had opted into AI data sharing without realizing that human contractors in another country would view the content.

A federal class-action lawsuit, Bartone et al. v. Meta Platforms, was filed on March 4, 2026, in the Northern District of California, alleging that Meta marketed the glasses as “designed for privacy, controlled by you” while routing footage to human reviewers overseas. Meta has said users were notified of potential human review in its terms of service. The UK Information Commissioner’s Office and Kenya’s Data Protection Commissioner both opened investigations into the matter.

10. Competition Is Intensifying From Google, Samsung and Snap

Despite Meta’s commanding market share, the company faces credible competitive pressure on multiple fronts. Google and Samsung are expected to unveil Android XR AI glasses this fall with Gemini integration. Snap unveiled its fully augmented-reality Specs on June 16 at $2,195 — a different product category targeting early adopters willing to pay for an AR display. Apple’s rumored smart glasses project remains unannounced, and Samsung has demonstrated prototype smart glasses but has not yet shipped a consumer product.

What Buyers Should Know About Setup Requirements

For anyone considering a purchase, operating any Ray-Ban Meta model requires connecting the glasses to a smartphone running a recently released operating system — Android 10 and above with location services enabled, or iOS 14.4 and above — along with wireless internet access, a USB-C charging plug, a valid Meta account, and the Meta AI app. The glasses also support a range of accessibility features, including Call a Volunteer, which connects blind or low-vision users with a sighted volunteer through Be My Eyes for help with everyday tasks via the glasses’ point-of-view camera.

With the new $299 Meta-branded glasses now on sale and competitors like Google, Samsung, and Snap preparing their own entries into the category later this year, the smart glasses market is poised for a significantly more competitive stretch heading into the fall. Given the ongoing privacy litigation tied to the Sama footage-review controversy, Meta’s continued dominance in the category will likely depend not only on its hardware and AI advancements, but also on how the company addresses the data-handling concerns that have drawn regulatory scrutiny from both the UK and Kenya.