That’s it, Meta Join 2025 is completed and dusted, and it was a jam-packed under-an-hour present stuffed to the brim with sensible glasses galore that we will’t wait to sink our enamel into.
The star of the present was, in fact, the brand new Meta Ray-Ban Show, which lastly added a display screen to the Ray-Ban sensible glasses we all know and love. We additionally acquired to see new Oakley Vanguard sensible glasses that look excellent for sports activities, Gen 2 Ray-Ban sensible glasses that provide a handful of upgrades over what’s come earlier than, and James Cameron virtually spoiled the subsequent Quest headset earlier than Mark Zuckerberg ran away with Diplo.
If you happen to didn’t tune in stay, you’re in luck. We’ve acquired a round-up right here for you of the 7 greatest bulletins from the occasion so you possibly can rise up to hurry very quickly.
We knew it was coming, however the announcement isn’t any much less thrilling. Meta’s Ray-Bans lastly include a display screen, which is able to assist you to carry out extra on a regular basis duties together with your spectacles, together with checking messages, previewing your sensible glasses’ pictures, and getting round city with on-screen instructions.
Whereas not the primary sensible glasses with a show we’ve tried, what’s cool about Meta’s specs is that the display screen is full shade, which ought to make it extra helpful than the sometimes monochromatic show glasses we’ve examined thus far (just like the Rokid Glasses). They boast a stable battery life in addition. Meta is promising “as much as six hours of mixed-use battery life” and “as much as 30 hours of battery life complete” should you use the charging case, which is collapsible for simpler storage when you’re carrying the specs.
The one draw back is that the glasses are noticeably chunky, although we’ve had hands-on time with them, and in our demo, we didn’t discover them to be much less comfy than Meta’s earlier glasses.
As anticipated, you’ll additionally have to pay a better value for Meta’s show specs. The glasses begin at $799 (different regional costs TBC), they usually’ll launch within the US on September 30, which is able to sneak up on us quick.
Meta says it’ll increase availability to Canada, France, Italy, and the UK in “early 2026.” Learn our first have a look at the Meta Ray-Ban Show Glasses right here.
If you happen to decide up the Meta Ray-Ban Show, you’ll not solely get new glasses however a brand new sensible band within the type of a Meta Neural Band.
This EMG wristband is rather a lot just like the one we’ve used with Meta’s Orion prototype – it’s in-development AR glasses – and it permits you to management your glasses utilizing hand actions, which may even be fairly delicate motions.
The band apparently depends on “deep studying algorithms based mostly on knowledge from practically 200,000 consenting analysis members”, with Meta including that which means practically everybody ought to be capable to use the band out of the field.
You’ll solely want the band to manage your glasses, and it ought to final you the entire day with an 18-hour battery life and cheap IPX7 water score – it’ll survive heavy rain, simply don’t overlook to take it off earlier than you swim.
3. Gen 2 Ray-Bans are coming too
Meta didn’t simply give us new Ray-Ban specs with a show; it additionally launched Gen 2 variations of its Ray-Ban glasses, which it calls “the world’s best-selling AI glasses” (based mostly on gross sales knowledge as of July 2025).
By way of design, they’re mainly an identical to Meta’s current Ray-Ban sensible glasses, however with as much as two instances as a lot battery life (now as much as eight hours) and better decision 3K Extremely HD video seize, they need to be a extra helpful AI accent.
The Gen 1 specs are sticking round for now, too, although they’re sticking at their authentic value because the Gen 2 glasses begin at a better price of $379 / £379 / AU$599. We’re ready on regional pricing for non-standard lenses, however within the US, polarized lenses will set you again $409, whereas Transitions lenses are $459 – with this being the most costly choice and the one we predict most individuals would discover helpful based mostly on our expertise with the Gen 1 Ray-Ban Meta sensible glasses.
4. Oakley Vanguard will up your sporting recreation
To not be outdone, Meta’s different EssilorLuxotica collab model, Oakley, gave us a model new pair of sensible glasses within the type of Vanguard, which follows on from the HSTN sensible glasses the duo launched earlier this yr.
These athletic shades tackle a extra visor-like wrap-around design, shifting the digital camera from the temple (the place it’s on Meta’s different specs) to the glasses’ heart – sitting on the nostril bridge.
They depend on Oakley’s PRIZM lenses, that are designed to spice up the distinction of your imaginative and prescient so you possibly can extra simply spot adjustments within the terrain you are operating or biking on. This could assist you to be higher ready. You’ll additionally discover they arrive outfitted with a couple of technological upgrades over the HSTN specs to focus extra on being your excellent sporting companion than a trendy accent.
Firstly, they boast Meta’s “strongest audio system” on its AI glasses but. They’re 6dB louder than the HSTN glasses, which ought to make it simpler to listen to what your glasses are saying over the sound of 30mph wind blowing previous you as you cycle.
Secondly, you should use the Meta AI app to pair your glasses with suitable Garmin tech and Strava. Utilizing these integrations, you possibly can say one thing like “Hey Meta, what’s my coronary heart price?” or “Hey Meta, how am I doing?” to get real-time insights into your health to know should you’re pushing your self too exhausting or on tempo to file a PB.
Meta has additionally added an auto-capture characteristic that enables the glasses to robotically seize video while you attain distance milestones, enhance your coronary heart price, or attain a brand new elevation. We will think about this being a superb technique to doc your subsequent marathon.
5. Meta’s including extra content material choices to Quest
Whereas a lot of the main focus at Meta Join was on the 2025 lineup of sensible glasses, Mark Zuckerberg couldn’t let a whole keynote go by with out addressing the Quest line of VR headsets. This time, the highlight was on leisure content material, going past VR video games like a number of Star Wars titles and the forthcoming Deadpool VR expertise.
Dubbed Horizon TV, it will function the one-stop hub inside Quest headsets for locating content material, and it’s bringing a significant new service to the platform. Disney+ is arriving for simple entry to in style TV reveals and flicks from one of many prime streaming providers, and Horizon TV will add help for Dolby Imaginative and prescient later this yr to affix the Dolby Atmos sound it already affords to ship a extra immersive leisure expertise.
James Cameron, the world-famous film director, got here on stage to hype up the Quest’s efficiency as a house leisure machine and to announce that an unique 3D clip of Avatar: Hearth and Ash is offered proper now in Meta Horizon TV for a restricted time.
However what we cared way more about was how shut he got here to spoiling Meta’s subsequent VR headset.
Annoyingly, he didn’t let a lot slip in any respect, however his feedback make us imagine that whereas Join 2025 was the yr of sensible glasses, Join 2026 might be all-in on VR as soon as extra.
We simply have 12 months till we discover out.
7. Huge VR updates are on the Horizon
Meta didn’t overlook about VR fully; alongside Horizon TV, it additionally up to date its Horizon Studio and debuted Meta Horizon Engine.
Horizon Engine has reportedly been “constructed from scratch and optimized to assist deliver the metaverse to life” by delivering higher graphics and a sooner efficiency. A daring promise for builders that might deliver its metaverse plans near actuality.
As for Meta Horizon Studio, this hub for creators features a vary of AI instruments that can quickly be leveraged by an AI agent, enabling it to sew collectively an entire VR world based mostly on only a few easy textual content prompts. That is one we’ll want to check out.