Thursday, 18 September, 2025 UTC
Summary
Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses are official, priced at $800 with the Meta Neural Band included.
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Meta Ray-Ban Display & Meta Neural Band
After months of rumors and a last-minute leak, Meta just officially announced its first smart glasses product with a display. To be clear, this is not full AR. It's a small fixed HUD (heads-up display) on the right side, only visible to your right eye, positioned to the right of the center of your view.
This monocular HUD has a field of view of 20 degrees, brightness of up to 5000 nits, and resolution of 600×600, providing 42 pixels per degree, which is higher than Apple Vision Pro.
Here's what Meta says you can use the display for:
• Meta AI with Visuals: Meta AI on glasses can do so much more when it’s paired with visuals — now it can show you answers and step-by-step how-tos, rather than just reading something back to you. Move through steps easily with a quick swipe of your thumb side to side using the Meta Neural Band.
• Messaging & Video Calling: Staying connected while staying in the moment is so much easier when your glasses show you short texts, WhatsApp messages, or Reels your friends are sharing. With Meta Ray-Ban Display, you can privately view text and multimedia messages from WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and your phone, hands-free with just a pinch. You can also take live video calls from WhatsApp and Messenger and show friends what you’re seeing through the glasses.
• Preview & Zoom: The real-time camera viewfinder and zoom functionality helps you get the perfect shot on the first try — and the display makes it easy to select and share your favorite photos and videos.
• Pedestrian Navigation: Get where you need to go, with phone-free, walking directions. Select your destination and get turn-by-turn walking directions with a visual map of the area shown on your glasses’ display. We’ll launch pedestrian navigation for select cities in beta and will continue to add more over time.
• Live Captions & Translation: Meta Ray-Ban Display breaks down barriers with its live captioning feature. When prompted, it can display captions for the speech that’s directed at you, or translate select languages for you in real-time — all while you stay present and engaged in the conversation.
• Music Playback: See what you’re listening to in real time with the music card shown on the glasses’ display. Swipe left and right with your thumb to navigate music, or pinch your fingers and rotate your wrist to turn the volume, just like you’re dialing up a speaker IRL.
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The monocular HUD of Meta Ray-Ban Display.
Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses weigh 69 grams, compared to 52 grams for the regular Ray-Ban Meta glasses (which got a Gen 2 upgrade today), and 40 grams for their non-smart equivalents. They're also noticeably bulkier, with thicker frames and temples. But this is the tradeoff of adding a display.
The company claims that the glasses should get around six hours of battery life in normal use, but we'll need to get our hands on them for a review to verify that in the real world.
Like the regular Ray-Ban Meta glasses, you can command the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses with Meta AI, and use the touchpad on the side for basic controls. But unlike any other smart glasses to date, they also come with Meta's long-in-development sEMG wristband in the box, called Meta Neural Band.
"The band features electrodes coated with diamond-like carbon, which are then reinforced by Vectran — a woven mesh that’s as strong as steel when pulled, yet soft enough to bend easily."
Meta Neural Band works by sensing the activation of the muscles in your wrist which drive your finger movements, a technique called surface electromyography (sEMG). It enables precise finger tracking with very little power draw, and without the need to be in view of a camera.
The wristband is how you navigate the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses interface. And it even lets you enter text by swiping the letters with your index finger on a physical surface. It also has haptic feedback to alert you of notifications.
Meta Neural Band should get around 18 hours of battery life, Meta claims, and it has an IPX7 water rating.
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Meta Neural Band
At first, Meta Ray-Ban Display will be exclusively available at physical retailers in the US, including Best Buy, LensCrafters, Ray-Ban Stores, and Verizon, priced at $800 with Meta Neural Band in the box.
If you're in the US, you can book an in-person demo at one of these stores.
Meta Ray-Ban Display comes in two colors, Black and Sand, and two sizes, standard and large. All colors and sizes come with Transitions lenses, which get darker in response to light, making them suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.
Meta says the glasses will come to Canada, France, Italy, and the UK in early 2026.