At its Meta Connect 2025 event tonight, Meta introduced the Meta Ray-Ban Display, a new generation of AI glasses that combines a built-in full-colour display with an electromyography wristband called the Meta Neural Band.
The device marks a step beyond Meta’s earlier Ray-Ban smart glasses, adding a cool side-mounted display that appears only when needed (reminds us of Minority Report), allowing wearers to check messages, translations, navigation, or photos without blocking their field of view.
The Neural Band cleverly uses muscle signals in the wrist to let users control the glasses with subtle hand movements, replacing the need to tap the frames or reach for a phone. Meta says the technology has been in development for years, with nearly 200,000 research participants helping to train it so that it works out of the box for most people.
It can recognize movements before they’re even visible, opening the door for accessibility uses for people with limited mobility, tremors, or spinal cord injuries. The wristband is built from Vectran, the same material used in NASA’s Mars rover crash pads, giving it durability while keeping it lightweight and flexible. It offers up to 18 hours of use and is water resistant to IPX7 standards.
The glasses themselves feature microphones, speakers, cameras, and the display all integrated into Ray-Ban frames. With a glance, users can see step-by-step guides powered by Meta AI, preview messages or video calls from WhatsApp and Messenger, or frame and zoom photos hands-free. Navigation directions appear directly in the lens, and conversations can be captioned or translated in real time. Music controls are also built in, with finger pinches and wrist movements adjusting playback and volume.
Meta says the Ray-Ban Display glasses last up to six hours on a charge, with 30 hours total when paired with the collapsible charging case. They come in Black or Sand with Transitions lenses, blending indoor and outdoor use.
The glasses will cost $799 USD (about $1,100 CAD), including both the eyewear and the Neural Band. They launch September 30 in the United States through Best Buy, LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, and Ray-Ban Stores, with Verizon availability coming later. Yes, Canada won’t be part of the launch later this month.
But don’t worry, because expansion to Canada, along with France, Italy, and the UK, is planned for early 2026. So start saving those pennies.
With this release, Meta says it now divides its smart eyewear into three categories: camera-based AI glasses such as Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley, display-based AI glasses with the new Ray-Ban Display, and future augmented reality glasses like the Orion prototype still in development.
You can click here to watch a replay of the Meta Connect 2025 event.
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Damn, they're hideous!
High School Chemistry class safety glasses circa 1960s.