Meta's upcoming $1,000 smart glasses sound like the Ray-Bans successor I've been waiting for

2 days ago 5

The Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses have been one of the more successful gadgets in recent years for breaking into a competitive wearable market and carving out their place. If CES in January was any indication of what we'll see in the rest of 2025, expect more people walking, working, and lounging around with smart glasses on.

Also: CES 2025: The 8 most advanced smart glasses we tried - and were impressed by

Clearly, Meta isn't settling with just branded glasses that can answer questions and take photos; it has a more ambitious goal of producing a pair of eyewear that can also display graphics, track hand gestures, and do more, as suggested by a recent Bloomberg report.

The product in development is codenamed Hypernova, and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman ballparks that it'll cost anywhere from $1,000 to $1,400, almost four times the listing price of its Ray-Ban smart glasses.

Gurman's sources suggest that the upcharge is due to the built-in screen on Hypernova, which is a "monocular panel that will be located in the lower-right quadrant of the right lens." But unlike existing AR glasses like the Even Realities G1, you'll have to stare downward to view the digital overlay instead of upward.

This only applies to version one of Hypernova, by the way, as a successor with a binocular display system (screens on both sides) also -- and already -- in the works. It'll be designed in partnership with Oakley and be purposed for athletic use.

Also: Meta's Orion AR glasses offer neural control - no implant necessary

Bloomberg says the new smart glasses have a boot screen that features Meta and its various partners, including Google/Android and chipmaker Qualcomm, who has worked with the tech giant for recent Quest headsets and wearables. Once booted, the glasses will display a horizontal stack of icons, similar to the app dock on iPhones and MacBooks.

Some preinstalled apps include a camera, gallery, and map, and the glasses will likely synchronize with your phone to project incoming notifications from various messaging services. Users will be able to navigate these services via capacitive touch controls on the side of the glasses or finger gestures with Meta's neural wristband equipped.

While I find the Ray-Ban smart glasses to have acceptable camera quality -- Meta compares them to the iPhone 11 internally -- the company is expected to upgrade the sensor on Hypernova to rival the iPhone 13. What the improvements entail is up to your imagination, but better image stabilization would certainly be a welcome start. Maybe improved low-light performance?

Bloomberg says Hypernova is "still months away from being introduced," though Meta's release plans may always change. If the timing is accurate, the company may launch the next-gen smart glasses during its Connect event in the fall. That's where Meta unveiled the Orion prototype glasses last year and the Ray-Bans the year before.

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