Meta Wants Its Glasses—Not Phones—to Be Your Tool for Using AI Technology

• Meta Platforms unveiled smart glasses with a built-in screen at its annual yearly developer conference on Wednesday.

• The glasses reflect a bet that they can take on smartphones as a key device people use to access AI technology. .

• CEO Mark Zuckerberg showcased the “Meta Ray-Ban Display” glasses, which along with a wristband that controls the screen will retail for $799 when it goes for sale in the U.S. on Sept. 30.
  

Meta Platforms unveiled new smart glasses with a built-in screen at its annual developer conference, a bet that new devices can challenge the smartphone as the key device for accessing AI.

The “Meta Ray-Ban Display” glasses, introduced by Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a speech Wednesday night, were well-received by Wall Street analysts, who have previously said they could help position the tech giant as an early leader in a new category of devices.

“Glasses are the only form factor where you can let AI see what you see, hear what you hear, talk to you throughout the day—and, very soon, generate whatever AI you need right in your vision in real time,” Zuckerberg said. He took to the stage at the company’s Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters wearing the glasses.

“It is no surprise that AI glasses are taking off,” he added.

Meta has been making smart glasses with Ray-Ban and Oakley owner EssilorLuxottica for the past three years. The European eyewear maker said in July that first-half revenue for the earlier generation of RayBan Meta glasses had more than tripled year-over-year.

The glasses come with a small screen in one lens controlled by a wristband called the Neural Band through small hand movements. The screen can “discreetly send quick replies, texts, videos, images and video messages” as well as allow users to respond to the messaging platforms owned by Meta—including WhatsApp—without having to use the phone, Meta said.

The glasses and wristband will go on sale starting Sept. 30 for $799 for the set.

“It remains early days across AI devices and glasses, but with AI’s always-on nature, we view the glasses as a natural extension of AI and a must-buy as superintelligence evolves the broader internet user experience,” Citi analysts wrote. “We believe Meta’s Short-, Medium-, & Long-term product roadmap can deliver continued engagement, monetization gains, and margin expansion as its AI investments remain highly strategic.”

JPMorgan said Meta’s push to make the smart glasses computing’s next factor will likely remind investors of the “many  tens of billions of dollars that Meta has invested into AI & the Metaverse”—though the company, the analysts said, can afford it.