Meta Says 'Big Wearable' News Is Coming, but There's Only One Thing I Want to Know

Meta has been on a pretty serious campaign to prove it’s at the cutting edge of consumer tech, and AI isn’t the only target on the board. AR/XR has also clearly been a priority if the last few weeks are any indication (see this paper in Nature about its wristband tech and drips on groundbreaking VR research for proof), and its vision on that front is starting to actually take shape.

According to Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth, the company’s annual Connect conference in September, where it showcases the latest VR and XR hardware, is going to be a major one. As noted by UploadVR, Bosworth mentioned in a recent Instagram Q&A that “big wearable announcements” are incoming, which could mean a lot of things. In the past, that’s meant a new Quest that’s better or cheaper than the last generation, but this year all signs point to new smart glasses.

There are a lot of directions a potential Meta smart glasses announcement could take (new third-gen Ray-Ban AI glasses, for example), but there’s only one thing I really want to know about what Meta plans to offer, and it’s actually pretty simple: will its glasses have a display or not?

If I had to guess, that’s likely the biggest question on most people’s minds, at least anyone who’s at all interested in smart glasses as a category. In my experience, it’s been the one thing people want to know about Meta’s existing Ray-Ban smart glasses when they find out I’m wearing them. And most of those people who ask, “Does it have a screen?” are pretty disappointed by my answer. As surprisingly useful as I’ve found Ray-Bans to be, they still don’t make the idea of smart glasses feel truly smart, and “smart-ish” glasses probably isn’t the vibe that Meta is going for.

The good news is, for anyone who’s hopeful (or expectant) for a pair of Meta-made smart glasses with a screen, it looks like those prayers may be answered. Rumors of a pair of glasses codenamed “Celeste” have been funneling in, and it looks like those smart glasses might have a HUD (heads-up display) on them. What that HUD will do is just as speculative as the Celeste glasses themselves, but rumors suggest that it will be able to show relatively simple information like weather and notifications. There are also some rumors that those next-gen smart glasses will include Meta’s body-reading wristband that allows for hand and finger gestures, but I’m a little skeptical of that side of things given the fact it still seems to be showcasing that accessory as more of an experiment with non-production glasses like Orion.

One thing you can count on is that if there is some kind of screen involved, they’ll likely reach a new, significantly higher price to go along with it. Rumors suggest that Celeste may end up in the $1,000 range when it’s finally available, and that’s not the only thing that may balloon either. If Celeste has the capabilities we think it will, it’ll definitely be a much chunkier gadget than Meta’s Ray-Bans, which are only slightly larger than a regular pair of sunglasses. Either way, in my book, Meta only has one metric for success when Connect rolls around next month, and that’s finally giving us smart glasses with a screen.