Apparent renders of next-gen Ray-Ban Meta glasses have leaked on Chinese social media, showing distinct designs for optical glasses and sunglasses.

A group calling itself XR Research Institute shared two images they claim to be real product renders of the two next-gen models. They claim one is codenamed Aperol and is a sunglasses design, while the other is codenamed Bellini and designed as everyday prescription eyewear.

The apparent renders from XR Research Institute.

Those codenames match The Information's May report, which also named Aperol and Bellini as next generation Ray-Ban Meta glasses.

However, XR Research Institute suggests that the new models should launch this year, while The Information said they're planned for 2026.

A move to separate designs for sunglasses and optical glasses would be an interesting departure from the current approach of offering all designs with either clear, sun, polarized, and Transitions lenses.

It's possible though that XR Research Institute is mistaken about this. In particular, the design they say is codenamed Bellini looks remarkably similar to the current Headliner design.

XR Research Institute also claims the new models will have significantly better battery life and enhanced AI features, including real-time object recognition and scene understanding.

This echoes The Information's report, which said the glasses will have an optional set of features internally referred to as “super sensing”, wherein the Live AI feature on the current Ray-Ban Meta glasses will be able to run in the background for "hours", compared to the roughly 30 minutes of the current device.

This would allow Meta AI to, for example, remind you to pick up your keys if you forgot, or to stop in a store to pick up ingredients for dinner, The Information wrote. And Meta is "exploring" a facial recognition capability, the report said, which could for example remind you of someone's name.

To be clear, Aperol and Bellini are separate from the smart glasses with a HUD, codenamed Hypernova and seemingly called Meta Celeste, which Meta reportedly plans to launch in October. Aperol and Bellini would be Ray-Ban branded and priced around $300-$500, while Celeste is reportedly priced above $1000.