Meta’s Connect 2025 event, held September 17th and 18th, was heavy on wearable hardware, AI ambition, and software to tie it all together. The company introduced new smart glasses in multiple styles, upgraded its Horizon platform, and detailed how it sees AI and XR converging. Here’s what went down.

Smart Glasses: Three New Models, One Vision

Meta unveiled three new smart glasses models that cover a spectrum from casual use to AR-forward to performance builds.

Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2

Meta confirmed a second-generation refresh of its Ray-Ban Meta line. Gen 2 glasses maintain the familiar Ray-Ban frames but bring upgraded capabilities: more battery life and enhanced camera/video capture. They’re meant to bridge current users toward the more ambitious display models.

Ray-Ban Meta Display

The spotlight device: Ray-Ban Meta Display includes a built-in monocular HUD (heads-up display) in the right lens, paired with the Meta Neural Band wrist controller for gesture-based input. The display projects visual elements including messages, navigation, AI responses—directly in your field of vision. Meta says the glasses will ship September 30th in the U.S. at $799 USD.

Specs include a display resolution of 600×600, brightness up to 5,000 nits, and just 2% light leakage (so others nearby won’t easily see the visual). The glasses weigh 69 grams.

The Neural Band uses surface electromyography (sEMG) to detect tiny muscle signals for gesture input—swiping, pinching, or even text input via finger swipes on a surface. Its battery life is rated around 18 hours, and it is water-resistant (IPX7).

Oakley Meta Vanguard

For more active users, the Oakley Meta Vanguard was introduced. These glasses skip the display but focus on durability, fitness features, and camera capability. Key features include:

  • A center-mounted 12MP camera for action capture
  • IP67 water and dust resistance
  • Integration with Garmin and Strava to deliver workout metrics and sync data
  • Up to 9 hours of battery life
  • Price: $499 USD, releasing October 21st in the U.S. and Canada initially Android Central+4Reuters+4WIRED+4

Meta also teased a higher-end glasses line codenamed Celeste, which may include display capabilities in future iterations.

Horizon Platform & XR Software: TV, Hyperspace, and Engine

Hardware grabbed most of the attention, but Meta also used Connect to push its software vision, especially for its XR and Horizon worlds.

Horizon TV

Meta announced Horizon TV, an entertainment hub within the Horizon ecosystem. With Horizon TV, Quest users (and likely future XR users) will get unified access to streaming services, including Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, Blumhouse content, directly inside the VR environment. No separate installation per service.

Hyperspace & Horizon Engine

Another reveal was Horizon Engine, Meta’s underlying graphics and world-building system. Horizon Engine promises faster load times, richer visuals, and support for denser, more complex virtual worlds. Meta is pairing it with Hyperspace, a new developer environment intended to let creators build and prototype content more fluidly (especially for XR).

With Horizon Engine, Meta claims larger lobbies, improved rendering, and better performance across devices. Hyperspace acts as a production toolkit for 3D creation and asset workflows inside Meta’s ecosystem.

Tying Hardware & Software Together

One of Meta’s consistent themes was the blending of hardware and software: glasses not just as accessories, but as portals into AI and XR. Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly framed smart glasses as a way to tap into what he calls “personal superintelligence”, interfaces that remain ambient, contextual, and seamless.

The Display glasses’ integration with Meta AI (visual + voice) and the Neural Band gesture input are early steps toward that future. Meanwhile, Horizon’s new tooling is meant to support experiences that these devices will unlock.

What It All Means: Momentum, Challenges, and Roadmap

Meta’s Connect 2025 shows a clearer roadmap for wearable computing. Rather than betting everything on one device, Meta is deploying a multi-tier strategy:

  • A refined base model (Gen 2) for everyday users
  • A display-enabled model (Meta Display) that introduces AR visuals
  • A performance model (Vanguard) built for athletes and action capture

Each fits a niche, but they share core AI, sensor, and software infrastructure.

Still, challenges remain. Display optics trade-offs, battery constraints, developer adoption, content to justify AR, and market acceptance. Meta’s success will depend heavily on how well its AI, Horizon software, and ecosystem services (media, apps, XR experiences) pull all this together.

But Connect 2025 feels different: First, because Meta delivered tangible consumer hardware and not just prototypes. Second, because it tied those hardware announcements to a software backbone (Horizon TV, Engine, Hyperspace) rather than leaving them as isolated gadgets.

If Meta executes these pieces as intended, the next few years could see wearable AI become a mainstream platform, not just a curiosity.