Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms Inc., wore Meta Ray-Ban Display AI glasses on Wednesday, September 17, 2025 during the Meta Connect event in Menlo Park, California, USA.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
When it comes to a new $799 Meta Ray-Ban display glasses, it’s a fuzzy, gray wristband that comes with the device, and it’s truly eye-opening.
The social media company was able to try out Meta’s next-generation smart glasses announced at its annual Connect event on Wednesday. These are the first glasses Meta will be selling to consumers using built-in displays, marking a key step for the company as CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s headset and glasses work towards a vision of overtaking smartphones as people’s preferred form of computing.
However, the display of the new glasses is still very simple. Last year on Connect, Meta unveiled Orion Glasses. This is a prototype that allows you to overlay complex 3D visuals into the physical world. These glasses were thick, required a computing pack and were built only for demo purposes.
However, Metaray-Ban Display began in the US on September 30th and is now available to the public.
The new glasses include a small digital display on the right lens, but the screen allows for unique visual features such as reading messages, seeing previews of photos, and reading live captions while talking to someone.
To control the device, you need to wear an EMG sensor wristband that detects electrical signals generated by the human body. Putting it was like tying it to the watch, except for the small electric shock it felt when it was activated. It wasn’t as shocking as I felt like I was taking my clothes out of the dryer, but it was noticeable.
Wearing new glasses wasn’t shocking until I wore them and saw a small display just below my right cheek appearing. The display is like a miniaturized smartphone screen, but is translucent so that it doesn’t obscure real-world objects.
Despite being a high-resolution display, the icons were not always clear in contrast to my real-world vision. These visuals are not intended to wrap your head in crystal clear fidelity, but they are there to perform simple actions, such as activating the camera on your glasses or glimpsing Spotify songs. It’s more useful than entertainment.
Metaray-Ban will display AI glasses with metaleneural band wristbands at Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, California, USA on Tuesday, September 16th, 2025.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
It was the most fun trying to perform hand gestures to navigate the display and open apps. I was able to scroll through the app as if I was using the touchpad by clenching my fist and swiping my thumb onto the surface of the finger of the pointer.
At first, I needed to first open the camera app by pinching my index finger and thumb. I realized that when the app wasn’t active, I was in a pinch twice, mimicking a double click on the mouse on my computer. However, while using a mouse is a second nature for me, I learned that I have inferior pinch skills that lack the correct cadence and timing needed to open the app consistently.
It was a bit strange and interesting to see the person in front of me. It felt like it was recreating the infamous comedy scene from the TV show The Kids in the Hall. This looks at people from afar while Misanthrope pinches his fingers and says, “I’m crushing your head, crushing your head!”
With the camera app finally open, the display showed what I was looking at right in front of my eyes and gave me a preview of what my photos and videos would turn out. It was like having my own personal picture-like features on TV.
My eyes have noticed that I am experiencing some cognitive dissonance from time to time, as the display always sat just outside the center of my vision, so I was constantly thinking about what my eyes should focus on. If you have ever had a vision test that involves identifying when looking at the wavy lines appearing around you, you have a sense of what I feel.
In addition to the pinch, Metaray-Ban display glasses can also be controlled using Meta AI voice assistants so that users can do it together with their device’s predecessors.
When I took some photos of the paintings decorating the halls of the demo room, I was told by the support staff to ask Meta AI to explain what I was seeing. Perhaps the Meta AI would have said that they were looking at various paintings from the Bauhaus Art Movement, but the digital assistants were never properly activated before being escorted to another part of the demonstration.
I found the live caption feature of Metaray-Ban Display useful in noisy situations. The dance music from the Connect event was blaked in the background, successfully picking up the voices of the tour guides at the demonstration. When he said, “Let’s head to the next room,” I saw his words appear on displays that look like closed captions on TV shows.
But in the end, I was most attracted to wristbands, especially when I listened to the glasses and music through Spotify. By rotating your thumb and index finger as if you were turning an invisible stereo knob,
We were able to adjust the volume, which is a fun and predictable experience.
This neural wristband really excavated my brain how much cutting-edge technology is packed into the new Metaray-Ban display glasses. Also, while the high prices of devices can turn off consumers, glasses are novel enough to attract developers to build apps in search of more computing platforms.
Watch: The next important wearable technology will be glasses, says Meta’s chief product officer.
