The $299 Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses were an unexpected hit, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stating in July that “demand is still outpacing our ability to build them.”
Now, Meta is giving the popular smart glasses, which sold more than a million pairs in less than two years, a $1,000 boost.
According to a Bloomberg report, Meta is looking to bring its first smartphone-alternative glasses to market by the end of this year to better compete with phones like Apple’s iPhone. The glasses, which are internally code-named Hypernova, will be able to run apps, recognize hand gestures, take pictures, and display maps.
Though the price of the glasses has yet to be determined, Meta employees told Bloomberg that the product could cost between $1,000 and $1,400, making it comparable in price to Apple’s $799 to $1,200 iPhone 16 lineup.
Related: Are Apple Smart Glasses in the Works? Apple Is Reportedly Eyeing Meta’s Ray-Ban Success Story.
The advanced feature that sets Hypernova apart from the current Ray-Ban Meta glasses, and contributes heavily to its price tag, is its screen. Turning the glasses on activates an embedded screen in the lower-right corner of the right lens, which displays information like directions from an app like Google Maps. Users simply look downward to access the information.
The Ray-Ban Meta glasses currently do not have a screen and are operated through voice commands and buttons on the frames. Hypernova would be the first pair of smart glasses from Meta to have a screen.
Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Hypernova is expected to have a better camera than the Ray-Ban Meta glasses and will come with a neural wristband controller. The controller allows users to navigate the glasses using hand gestures, such as touching their index finger and thumb together to click on an item. Users can operate the glasses without the controller, through swipes and taps on the frames.
Related: Amazon Wants to Deliver Packages Faster With Secret Smart Glasses. Here’s How.
Gizmodo reports that Meta could release Hypernova in September at its annual Meta Connect conference. In 2023, Meta released the second generation of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses at Connect. (At last year’s Connect, Meta offered a sneak peek into Orion, its first fully functioning holographic glasses prototype.)
Meta is already working on other glasses projects, including Supernova 2, a pair of athletic smart glasses without a display, and Hypernova 2, a pair of smart glasses with two screens in both eyes that is slated to come out in 2027, per Bloomberg.
According to Counterpoint Research’s Global Smart Glasses Model Shipments Tracker, demand for the Ray-Ban Meta glasses drove global smart glasses shipments to grow by over 200% year-over-year. Meta had more than 60% of the smart glasses market share in 2024, per Counterpoint.
Meta could face competition from Samsung and Apple in the smart glasses market.
According to the Korean site ETNews, Samsung is working on smart glasses with a display and speakers to be released later this year. Apple, meanwhile, started exploring smart glasses in November by collecting insights from employee focus groups, per Bloomberg.
Related: This Founder’s Smart Sunglasses Retail for $849 — and He Crowdfunded More Than $300,000. Here’s How He Came Up With the Idea That Could Revolutionize Eyewear.
