Meta has a new pitch for your face. At the Meta Connect 2025 event, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses, a futuristic pair of AI-powered eyewear that look like normal sunglasses but come loaded with a full-color display, microphones, speakers, and a wristband that lets you control everything with just a flick of your hand.
Meta calls it the next computing platform after the smartphone. But here’s the uncomfortable question: do we actually need this, or is it just another piece of expensive wearable tech destined to gather dust next to Google Glass and Snap Spectacles?
Meta Ray-Ban Display Price and Availability
The new glasses start at $799 in the US (around ₹70,000 in India if imported). That price includes both the frames and the new Meta Neural Band, an EMG-powered wristband that picks up signals from your muscles to let you interact with the glasses without touching them.
The official launch date is September 30, 2025, in the US, where they’ll be available at Best Buy, LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, and Ray-Ban stores, with Verizon stores joining later. Meta has confirmed expansion to Canada, France, Italy, and the UK in early 2026, though no word yet on India availability.
You’ll get two frame sizes (standard and large), two colors (Black and Sand), and three Neural Band sizes to match your wrist. Battery life is around six hours of mixed use, extendable to 30 hours with the charging case that’s enough for a day of wear, but still short compared to the devices these glasses are supposed to replace.
What Can Meta’s Smart Glasses Actually Do?
At their core, the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses are about convenience. With a quick glance at the in-lens display, you can:
- Read WhatsApp messages and reply without pulling out your phone.
- Take live video calls on WhatsApp and Messenger and share your point of view.
- Get turn-by-turn walking navigation directly in your glasses.
- See live captions and real-time translations when talking to someone.
- Preview and share photos or Reels straight from your glasses’ camera.
- Control music playback with subtle wrist gestures.
Meta’s pitch is that this lets you stay “present,” avoiding the constant downward stare into your smartphone. The Neural Band, which translates tiny muscle signals into commands, makes this even more futuristic like controlling tech with your mintue gestures, but without the brain implant.
Meta’s Hardware Ambition
Here’s where things get strategic. Up until now, Meta has been dependent on Apple and Google for its survival. All its apps including WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger live on iOS and Android devices, controlled by companies that can change the rules anytime. Apple’s recent privacy updates already slashed Meta’s ad revenue, proving just how vulnerable it is.
The Ray-Ban Meta Display Glasses mark a turning point. For the first time, Meta isn’t just another app on your phone it’s building its own hardware ecosystem. By putting smart glasses on your face and the Neural Band on your wrist, Meta controls not just the software but also the physical harware.
That makes these glasses more than just a gadget. They could be the extra pair of eyes and ears that Meta fully owns, a way to bypass Apple and Google and ensure that the world’s most personal moments flow directly through Meta’s systems.
The Privacy Elephant in the Room
The bigger concern is privacy. These glasses have cameras, microphones, and AI-powered translation tools built right in. Meta has added a small LED indicator to show when recording is active, but will that be enough?
Do people really want to be recorded, captioned, or even translated mid-conversation without their consent? In theory, Meta is selling presence the idea of staying connected without being distracted by your phone. In practice, it could normalize surveillance in everyday spaces, from cafes to classrooms to office meetings.
Meta insists all EMG data processing happens on-device, and only events like a “click” are sent to the glasses. Still, the idea of Meta a company with a mixed track record on user privacy putting microphones and displays in our eyewear is going to raise eyebrows.
Does This Really Solve a Problem for Humanity?
Meta wants the Ray-Ban Display to feel like the next iPhone moment, the dawn of a new computing platform. But for now, it feels more like a tech flex than a tool that solves urgent human problems.
Yes, it makes messaging hands-free. Yes, it can guide you through a city without your phone. But at the end of the day, this isn’t a breakthrough cure for accessibility or a life-changing necessity. It’s about making small conveniences smoother. That’s not nothing, but it’s not essential either.
What it really does is push Meta’s long-term vision: a future where we record more, share more, and filter more of our daily lives through its ecosystem. Whether that’s progress or just another layer of tech bloat is still unclear.
Meta Ray-Ban Display vs Apple Vision Pro vs Google Glass
| Device | Launch Year | Starting Price (USD) | Form Factor | Key Features | Privacy Concerns | Market Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Ray-Ban Display | 2025 | $799 | Smart glasses with display & Neural Band | In-lens display, WhatsApp integration, Neural Band control, photo/video capture | Discreet recording, AI captions & translation in public | Just launched, aimed at early adopters |
| Apple Vision Pro | 2024 | $3,499 | Mixed reality headset | Immersive AR/VR, eye tracking, high-res displays, spatial audio | Limited (headset mostly private use) | High price limits mass adoption |
| Google Glass | 2013 | $1,500 | Smart glasses with small display | Notifications, photos, basic apps | High (camera on face, people uncomfortable) | Discontinued due to poor adoption |
Should You Buy the Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses?
At $799 (or approx ₹70,000), buying these glasses isn’t about utility it’s about identity. They make sense if you’re the kind of early adopter who sees technology not just as a tool but as an extension of your lifestyle. For you, being able to glance at a WhatsApp message without breaking eye contact, or recording a family moment without blocking it with a phone, is not just convenient, it’s symbolic of the future you want to live in.
For everyone else, though, the glasses feel like a luxury flex rather than a daily necessity. A flagship smartphone still offers far more value for the same price.
Bottomline
The Ray-Ban Meta Display Glasses are undeniably stylish, and the technology behind them especially the Neural Band’s subtle gesture control is impressive. They are also a bold attempt by Meta to shift from being an app company to a platform owner, controlling not just what you do online but also how you access it.
But here’s the hard truth: right now, they don’t solve a fundamental problem. They answer a question nobody really asked “What if WhatsApp was on my face?” while introducing a host of new questions about privacy, necessity, and control. For now, they’re a glimpse of a possible future, but for most people, they’re still a futuristic toy with a luxury price tag.
